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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578416">Look Around and the Time Has Flown</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinowiz/pseuds/Dinowiz'>Dinowiz</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Frozen (Disney Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Almost every single chapter has at least one mini history lesson lmao, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Historical, Post-Frozen 2 (2019), Stand Alone Yet Interconnected Chapters</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:55:34</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>25,120</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24578416</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dinowiz/pseuds/Dinowiz</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Time was a constant, an ever growing shadow over lives, ever cruel, ever harsh, no one cared to admit. All knew this, all denied it, all but Elsa, whom through the ever changing rate of Arendelle, shall learn it the hard way.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Anna/Elsa (Disney)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>The Elsanna Collection</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Look Around and the Time Has Flown</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"Time is a storm in which we are all lost."</em>
</p><p><em>-</em> <em>William Carlos Williams.</em></p>
<hr/><p>The fire roared as its light danced around the tent, coating the fabric housing its two occupants with shimmying displays of oranges and reds, fighting the shadows trying to envelop them, its warmth having come to them in waves of ever increasing and decreasing heat, all dependent on the chilled winds of the outside. Fire was one of the greatest sources of comfort in this world, yet also one of the greatest sources of danger. Ever powerful, everlasting, sometimes unstoppable. Caring, dangerous, yet always passionate, fire was every single one of these things and more. Its meaning as unique as every person that experienced the natural phenomenon. For one of the occupants, it served her need in the most primal, physical sense, providing them with great warmth and comfort. But for the other, the fire wouldn’t be enough, would never be enough to quell the heavy heart she now bore. What she needed, who she needed, was the very person this fire reminded her so… Her own fiery, dearest, passionate and beloved sister.</p><p>The very sister she’ll be forced to bring to tears.</p><p>The thought of Anna's broken heart filled every corner of Elsa’s mind. Her tears, her sobbing, her accusations of betrayal. Anna didn’t deserve this, didn’t deserve Elsa, and most certainly not a single bit of what Elsa now had, the curse now so unexpectedly forced upon her. When Elsa first found herself within the glacial confines of Ahtohallan, she finally found the one thing she craved her entire life: a sense of belonging, purpose, and freedom. As the glacier’s cold embrace enveloped her, remade her, transformed her into what she was destined to be, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of pure, unbridled fulfillment. She stepped into her power, threw herself into something new, and at that moment there was nothing that came close to the pure elation she experienced as she bathed within her mother's prideful gaze.</p><p>But any and all sense of positivity melted away once she said her goodbyes to Anna, Kristoff, Sven and—</p><p>Olaf… Elsa’s mind raced with the idea that even he could… No… Please… Anyone but him. The idea of Olaf now having what she had, her mind pleading for it to not be true. She’d even prefer Anna to… No… He couldn’t possibly, there’s no way he—</p><p>“Will Olaf—”</p><p>“Yes, him too.” Yelena answered, having further fed the flame. “He’s your creation, no?”</p><p>“Yeah…” Elsa trailed off, hands folded and fidgeted. “I suppose...” Elsa’s heart, engulfed within guilt and despair, could only ever hope to chastise herself evermore. Not only did her arrogance, her mistake, cost her this parasitic curse. But now, Olaf bore it too. Like Anna, he didn’t deserve a thing. Too innocent, too selfless, too jolly, too... everything… It would’ve been the last thing on his mind as everyone said their goodbyes to Elsa.</p><p>She dragged herself back into a sea of thought and memory. Travelling back to her recollection of goodbyes and see you soons to her only family. Sven’s charming (albeit mildly revolting) licks, Olaf's warm hugs, Kristoff’s reassuring shoulder pats, Anna’s caring, devoted, loving embrace. The warmth and care she felt from them all was overbearing, it almost made her feel guilty that she was leaving them… almost. She knew for certain that they would all appreciate her presence back in Arendelle, but sometimes you have to prioritize your needs over others, and that’s exactly what Elsa did. Her regret for everything only settled once the moon graced Elsa’s first enchanted night within the equally enchanted forest, as Yelena beckoned Elsa into her tent, illuminated by the night sky’s ruler. She beckoned her to sit by the fire, telling her she’d need to sit down for this information, and to sit down she needed. Because it crushed Elsa like glass under pressure, shattering any sense of fulfillment or joy faster than the blink of any man’s eye. She’d have to tell everyone eventually. Kai, Gerda, Kristoff, Sven…</p><p>Anna…</p><p>Elsa would be lying if she said she didn’t feel a sense of underlying guilt leaving the people of Arendelle behind, leaving Anna behind. But again, sometimes one is needed to prioritize their own needs before they pursue those of others. But knowing what she knew now, she would have never answered the call. She would’ve never ventured forth into the unknown. The voice could call her for the rest of her days for all she cared, no sense of belonging could ever eclipse her need to make Anna happy. But Elsa was brash, reckless. She didn’t once take into account the full burden of her responsibility as the fifth spirit, and now she had nothing to pay but the full price for her ignorance. There was no going back, no special magic or true love that can reverse the effects this time, she was trapped in this position, and trapped she would forever be.</p><p>And what of Anna’s new position as queen of Arendelle? Sure, Elsa knew she was more than capable of running the kingdom. But to Elsa, despite how Anna had already saved her life twice— despite how she fought wolves and cold to reach her on the north mountain and despite her continuously lifting Elsa’s spirits time and time again… To Elsa, she’ll always be that sleeping, pig—tailed, auburn child whose head she struck with ice all those years ago.</p><p>But the idea of her… interacting with other nations. Would she be able to deal with the representatives? How about the wording of documents? Elsa’s mind raced, unbidden thoughts sprang to mind, each one worse than the last. She knew for certain diplomats could intentionally make the reading of them difficult, it had happened, will always happen, and that was before she even took into account negotiation. Did Anna even have such skills? Trade deals? Criminal punishment…</p><p>War…</p><p>Elsa’s slow, deliberate breathing caught within her throat. The jaws of her final, most darkest thought taking hold of the throat that was her mind. Like any other predator that caught its prey, the thought lingered, lurked, pounced, merely awaited the right time as its jaw lingered over the throat.</p><p>Then squeezed.</p><p>What if during some war, they invaded Arendelle? The conquest, the bloodshed, the suffering. Would Anna be able to handle that? Putting people on the front lines of conflict, literally send them to their demise. The decisions she’d have to make, the people she’d have to sacrifice. What if… no. Elsa couldn’t think like this, should never think like this. But the more she tried to suppress such thoughts, the more they destroyed any mental barriers in her mind.What if… during a war… a nation invaded, took hold of Arendelle, found Anna… And they—</p><p>“When will she know?” Yelena’s query dragged Elsa out of her thoughts.</p><p>Of course she knew when Elsa was thinking about her.</p><p>She looked up to find brown eyes driving stakes into hers. Even having mastered all four elements and being capable of harnessing the power of cold and winter, she still felt powerless under the elder nomad’s stone glare.</p><p>She always knew.</p><p>Elsa looked back down to the fire as it danced freely across dying wood. She admired the freedom the destructive gas had in its limitations as she loathed her own, side by side with her answer.</p><p>“The next time we meet.” Elsa expected an answer back, but returned her eyes up only to have found the glare still present. Elsa never considered herself the best people person, but even she clocked that the gesture meant that she should continue. “She’s going to send me a letter after her coronation.”</p><p>Yelena’s glare finally softened as she raised a brow. “Not attending are we?”</p><p>The tribe—woman's tone of voice made her feel like a criminal thrust in front of judge, jury and executioner. And like any sane criminal in such a situation, Elsa rushed head first into the defense.</p><p>“W—Well, it'll be my first day in the forest. I—I’m its protector.” Elsa chastised herself for stuttering, a sign of weakness. Spirits can not, should not, never show such emotion. She wouldn't be able to get away with it, who did she think she was? Anna? “I need to acquaint myself with all the nomads, memorize the land, and… and—”</p><p>An amused chuckle stopped Elsa’s speech dead in its tracks. “No need to rush, Elsa.” The greying woman chided as she grabbed a previously unseen kettle, pouring warm contents into twin mugs. “You’ll have all the time in the world to confess.”</p><p>Elsa’s hands, normally as gentle and graceful as the magic she conjured, trembled as she slowly reached out to accept the mug.</p><p>“Y—Yeah…” Elsa replied. Craving the comfort of hot tea in her chest, Elsa motioned the mug towards her mouth. Only for her lips to be greeted by stagnant ice tea in place of welcome herbal liquid. Her heart sank down as her sigh went up, the lack of warm beverage being the last thing to blame. “All the time in the world...”</p>
<hr/><p>A frustrated, exhausted groan filled the soundscape of Elsa’s— No, Anna’s study room.</p><p>
  <em>I don’t have time for this!</em>
</p><p>Followed by something heavy dropping onto the table… It was Anna’s forehead.</p><p><em>I refuse to, will not and I repeat will not ever, ever, forgive Elsa for this!</em> Anna lamented as she slowly lifted her head off of the table, hands covering her eyes. She inched them off her face, secretly hoping that the mountain of papers on her desk had disappeared, vanished into thin air. Unfortunately, that was not how the world worked, so instead she found them staring her down, taunting her struggle. Her eyes narrowed at the offending pieces of paper in mock hatred.</p><p><em>Ever!</em> It’s been exactly an hour since Anna was crowned as Queen of Arendelle in the small town's public square. The celebration was fun… For a while at least. Whilst Sven did indeed eat the majority, the rest of the food was most certainly delicious, and the people were an absolute joy to talk to (as always). Not to mention finally seeing Kristoff in a suit was a sight to behold. He looked so handsome in formal attire, Kristoff’s naturally messy look was most certainly part of his massive charm, but surely it’s not bad to want to see him wear a suit more often? Right?</p><p>But Anna had responsibilities, new responsibilities. Jesus Christ there were so many responsibilities, and they all came crashing down on her like a very certain tsunami hitting a very certain village, starting with the tower of dread that was these papers. The sheer amount of pages alone was enough to fill at least six full length novels, and they were stacked to the brim with trade agreements to sign, meetings to arrange, and God knows what else the rest of the world could possibly want from Arendelle. Hopefully none of them were marriage proposals. That would be embarrassing, especially considering the fact that they were probably not meant for Anna, and were most likely cheesy. Very cheesy.</p><p>According to Kai, these were what Elsa had to trek through before the four spirits decided to make Arendelle their personal playground, and in all honesty Anna was not very pleased with her new task. Ever since she was a child she knew for a fact that she couldn’t bear staying in one place for more than five minutes at a time, and now Elsa expected her to do nothing but that for six days a week? For the rest of Anna’s life? Anna would happily give Elsa a piece of her mind if she hadn’t already been crushed by the pressure of every demand on her shoulders. Demands from Arendelle's citizens, young and old, men and women, boys and girls, servants, bakers, shopkeepers, all these and more did nothing but hold a tight iron grip within Anna’s chest that refused to let go. Would it be an understatement to say that Anna was a tad bit intimidated?</p><p>Anna breathed in,<em> I hit a wolf with a Lute</em> Anna breathed out. <em>I can do this.</em> Her head turned to gaze at the miniature globe on the corner of her desk, she eyed all of the different kingdoms, focusing on those that mean most to her. Arendelle, Corona, Weaseltown.</p><p>Anna chuckled as memories from the latter kingdom’s duke strolled into her mind whilst she eyed the countries they resided in. Norway, Germany, England. Her eyes took in the continent said countries shared, followed by the rest of the continents of the world. Until now, she truly didn’t have a grasp of the true expanse of the world, even if what it housed always gave her this striking sense of curiosity, she never had a reason to. She was but a princess, stuck to the confines of her castle, her town. A very comfortable castle and town mind you, but confined nonetheless.</p><p>But given her new position as Queen, the world would be the only thing her mind could possibly dwell on. The iron grip returned tenfold into her chest, crushing her from the inside as Anna dwelled on the true size of the world at large, her place in it. Now that she was queen, she’d have to interact with the vast majority of it, nations far and wide would beg, plead and want from her. Whether it be money, power, land— whatever else a human could possibly ask for. She’d no longer be seen as the sweet young princess Anna, harborer of joy, optimism and everything summer. She’d instead be Queen Anna of Arendelle, home of opportunities. Opportunities for resources, money, power. Citizens and nobles alike would look at her, talk to her and even stand differently around her from here on out, and Anna wasn’t quite sure how to process this new information. Was this what being a Queen really felt like?</p><p><em>No wonder Elsa wanted to leave.</em> Anna thought as she stared down the document that she probably should have sifted through by now. She didn’t hate Elsa for leaving the kingdom, far from it. If anything, she was over the moon for her. Finally she’d found a place where she felt like she belonged. A place where she could be relaxed, be free, truly become the person she was destined to be...</p><p>But that didn’t mean she wasn’t allowed to feel at least a tinsey weensy bit infuriated at her current predicament. Being the queen was going to be tough, it was going to be stressful, and it would most certainly drive Anna out of her goddamn mind. But no matter how intense things got, or how much Anna would quite literally want to pull her own hair out, she’d at least be content in the knowledge that Elsa finally found her place in this world. Now, all Anna needed to do was figure out how to thrive in hers. Anna’s eyes glanced over to the clock above the study’s window. Forty minutes, that’s how long Anna had been thinking. Forty.</p><p>If someone told her that time was actually a sentient being, and that it was taunting her at this very moment, she would’ve believed them, no questions asked. Before frustration could take over, Anna turned her attention back to the lone piece of paper in front of her. On its own it didn’t appear that intimidating. It was of regular size, as was the handwriting. But the contents… The damned contents. She couldn’t make heads nor tails of them. It was something to do with a trade route, right? Or an agreement of a trade route? It was about trading… Wasn’t it?</p><p>Two hard knocks on the door behind her interrupted her deduction. “Come in!” she chirped, happy to finally see another face again.</p><p>The door creaked as it opened, a short, portly man occupying its frame. Anna turned, giving the man a smile as he walked in, it was Kai. His eyes flickered from the papers and back to Anna.</p><p>“Embracing the workload I see,” Kai said as he stopped at Anna’s side, the sarcasm as present in his voice as the smirk on his face.</p><p>“What gave it away?” Anna asked, returning the sarcasm full force. Kai had always borne a more formal manner when he was around Elsa, the same held true for the former King and Queen of Arendelle. But for Anna, Kai always seemed to relax somewhat, never afraid to throw a little banter at Anna’s way. Neither of them really understood why. Maybe it was because Anna exerted an open personality, inviting more honesty from people. Maybe it was due to Anna’s bubbly nature being infectious, afflicting Kai by revealing a bit more of his snarky side. Or maybe it was because that aside from herself, Kai seemed to be the only person in the castle's walls that thought it was a terrible idea to keep her and Elsa apart for so many years.</p><p>But Anna liked to think it was because they shared ginger hair.</p><p>“You’re taking it better than she did.” Huh? Did she hear that right? Her sister? Her Elsa? Struggling with something? Ludicrous, unheard of, downright bizarre. Elsa took the role of Queen better than anyone she had ever known. Granted, the only other Queen she ever knew was her mother, but that had to count for something, right? Her mind battled with the idea that her sister wasn’t as perfect as initially believed, demanded any and all potential retorts, comebacks, insults...</p><p>But all that came out was a very simple, straightforward, precise, concise, to the point:</p><p>“No way.”</p><p>“Yes way!” Kai cemented. Always the word of wisdom, Anna felt like Kai was the only person in the world that she could go to for guidance. That’s not to say the other people in her life didn’t share the occasional nugget of wisdom. But if everyone else in her life had nuggets, then Kai had a whole mine’s worth.</p><p>“In fact, on her first day of the job, she got so scared she ended up coating half the castle with frost.”</p><p>“So that’s why my bath was freezing…” Kai appeared as if he was about to say something else, immediately holding himself back as he realized what Anna actually said. There was a long silence that drew and drew as Kai gave Anna the blankest of stares.</p><p>“You took a bath in the afternoon?”</p><p>“Doesn’t everyone?” Anna looked at Kai, and quite honestly he looked rather horrified. What was the big issue? If you get clean, you get clean right? Kai put back on his mask of formality, the kind he always wore whilst around someone who wasn’t Anna.</p><p>“As your friend I have no issue, but as your butler I find that downright disgusting.”</p><p>“I still get cleaned!”</p><p>“A Queen that gets cleaned Anna,” Kai said, putting emphasis on the word ‘Queen’. “I hate to break it to you but you’re going to have to—” Anna groaned. “—follow some rules”.</p><p>“Rules are boring, why can’t we be allowed to have fun?”</p><p>“Since when did I propose you were unable to have fun?”</p><p>“Since every time you stopped me from climbing up the castle curtains.” Even as Anna thought, Kai continued.</p><p>“It’s just on a schedule now, a schedule that’s been passed down to you, just like it has to Elsa, your mother, father, grandfather—”</p><p>“Ew—”</p><p>“—great grandmother, great grandfather, great great—”</p><p>“—I get it, I’m Queen, I now have to suddenly know everything,” she over dramatically forced out, a smile on her face of course. Anna knew all too well the high expectations she now had on her shoulders. Willing to fight tooth and nail to meet those standards, Arendelle deserved everything in the world and more. The people were like precious jewels (jewels that actually spoke of course), invaluable, something she’d protect with every last ounce of power.</p><p>But that didn’t mean she liked to be reminded every ten seconds.</p><p>“<em>Au contraire</em> Anna, a Queen never stops learning, lest she wants to experience the wrath of her people.” Anna’s heart rate rapidly increased. Kai just smiled… Smugly. “No pressure.”</p><p>Meanwhile all Anna could think of was a potential revolt. Would the people turn on her? Could the people turn on her? In all honesty Anna couldn’t quite tell what she even could do to inspire such hatred, everyone in town was too nice. What could she possibly do to cause such a ruckus? Kai didn’t allow her thoughts to answer that question.</p><p>“Consider this your first lesson as Queen.” Kai straightened his back, his hands folded behind him, standing as if he was on some form of podium, speaking to the masses. This was Kai’s method of bringing importance to whatever was needed to be said, an easy identifier for Anna to know when she was actually meant to be listening. Something they established when she was but a child.</p><p>“You’ll never stop learning, even at your eldest age, not just from other people, but from inside yourself.” A silence fell upon the study as Anna soaked in Kai’s words. He was trying to get her to ask for help, of course!</p><p>“So does that mean you’ll help me with this?”</p><p>“No.” Guess not.</p><p>“Oh come on! What happened to learning from others?!”</p><p>“The way someone learns and experiences things is as unique as the person learning.” Kai turned to Anna, driving his point home. “And for you, you’re most certainly better off learning this particular activity on your own.”</p><p>Anna was readying to have a light go at the man. Why suggest to ask for help if you’re not going to in the first place?! All that would succeed in doing is to drive Anna up the wall, Kai knew this…</p><p>Then she came to a most sudden realization.</p><p>“This is about the bathing isn’t it?” Kai smirked.</p><p>“Perhaps.”</p><p><em>Why are you like this?</em> Of course Kai wasn’t just offering her advice for the sake of it, there’s always a second need with this man. Anna wouldn’t have it any other way.</p><p>With that, Kai took his leave. He opened the door, but he didn’t exit, not yet. Instead, he turned around, and gave one final look at Anna. “Have fun, your majesty.”</p><p>“I could destroy the kingdom because of you!” She joked behind her chair. Although Anna found light amusement in imagining Kai potentially leading the kingdom into a state of ruin due to negligence, she knew for a fact that he read through every document before he sent them over to her. She knew that for a fact, because Elsa told her so. She wouldn’t lie… Would she?</p><p>“Worth it.” Kai replied.</p><p>Right?</p><p>Probably wearing that light smile of his, probably certain of the state he just left Anna in, Kai walked out and closed the door behind him. Just in time for him to miss Anna’s groan. Not because of Kai’s sly remark, she’d heard enough of them as is. No, she groaned because she was back at square one. All work, too many forms and absolutely no progress. She picked up the paper and held it in a diagonal position, narrowing her eyes. She had no idea what she was doing or how this would help her, but she liked to think that just staring would allow her to magically make sense of the document. Three knocks on the door interrupted her deduction (again), forcing her to drop the paper.</p><p>What does it take for a Queen to get some work done around here?</p><p>Her first thought was that it was Kai again, but these knocks were softer, slower, further apart. She could recognize those knocks anywhere. Anna’s poor work ethic compelled her to beckon the knocker inside.</p><p>Gerda opened the door, a steaming mug occupying her hand. Anna didn’t need eyes to recognize the smell of the godly concoction.</p><p><em>Hot Chocolate…</em> Anna already felt the saliva building up within her mouth. She knew for a fact that if she got her hands on that mug, she would most certainly not commit to her duties, if she gave into her primal urges for even one second she knew for a fact that she would never, ever, be able to possibly do anything related to—</p><p>“Gerda you’re a lifesaver!” Gerda placed the mug on Anna’s desk, away from the papers. Anna’s hands shot towards the mug, ignorant to its scorching heat, and took a generous sip (if you could even call it that).</p><p>“Heard you were struggling a bit, your majesty, so I thought you wouldn’t mind—” Anna slammed the mug back down, the clink more of a clunk, too busy with the searing pain on her tongue to pay attention to anything Gerda had to say, fanning her tongue with a conviction the likes of which rivaled solely by her determination to destroy Arendelle's dam. Except when she was destroying the dam, she wasn’t repeating the word “hot” over a million times.</p><p>“I guess some things really never change with you, do they?” Anna didn’t need to face Gerda to know that she was smiling. Smiling that same smile that never failed to reach her eyes.</p><p>“I have no idea —<em>So hot why</em>— what you’re talking about.” Anna finally turned to Gerda, pointing her thumbs at herself, the searing pain still reminiscent on her tongue.</p><p>“Prime Queen material here” Anna nervously chuckled, hoping that Gerda found her self—deprecation the least bit funny. <em>Yes Anna great job genius comedy well done.</em> If Gerda found it funny, she certainly didn’t show it. Her smile, however, was still unwavering, ever present, as it always would be.</p><p>The elder woman raised a brow. “You’re trying to put this off by talking to me—” Anna blinked, “Aren’t you?” Gerda’s smile was still present, her voice as tender as ever, but it was a knowing remark. Anna opened her mouth to refute, but Gerda beat her to the punch.</p><p>“Keep going, your majesty.” Gerda turnt and strolled towards the door. “If anyone was born for this, it was most certainly you.”</p><p>Anna had many, many doubts about that, especially when considering the certain amazing someone in her life that she was sure was in fact straight up born for this kind of stuff. “Even Elsa had to start somewhere…” Gerda winked, Anna furrowed her eyebrows.</p><p>
  <em>How did she—</em>
</p><p>“Enjoy the chocolate deary!” The click of the door shut drove Anna out of her thoughts, leaving her alone in the room once more. Her only source of companionship a mere ticking clock. Time was taunting her once again, and Anna was having absolutely none of it. She turned back to her desk. Now, she would actually, properly, superbly, definitely beat this paper to the ground and make it her bitch.</p><p>She.</p><p>Could.</p><p>Do.</p><p>This!</p><p>Her hands slammed onto the desk with enough drama to rival theatrical performances as she decided to finally read aloud the first sentence of the offending parchment.</p><p>“Dear Queen Elsa…” She stopped, questioned as to why it was addressed to Elsa, reminded herself why, chuckled at her own silliness, then continued, “...We are humbly pleased with your ice supply, but by the request of our highest ranking ruler, we would be ever so delighted if you were to subvert the method by which our financial exchange—”</p><p>The door shot open with a bang, Anna screamed.</p><p><em>Jesus Christ! </em>That’s it, Anna had officially had enough. All she needed was some peace and quiet, just this once. Normally, seeing this many people in such a short span of time would be something she’d welcome with figurative and literal open arms. After all, there were very few things she loved more than the energy that came from a meaningful exchange with another person. But right now, she really needed to do this work, and she really needed to do it now. Saying that she exploded would be an understatement.</p><p>“What is it with people like you and stopping royal people from doing their royal things during their royal times huh?” Anna exclaimed as she revolved to face the offending visitor with a scowl. But once she turned, she came to the sudden realization that said offender was most certainly not worth the effort, in fact, said offender wasn’t much of an offender to begin with, it was in fact... Her most lovely Fiancé. Her wide—eyed, somewhat startled (and most likely rethinking about having proposed to Anna in the first place) Fiancé. If Anna didn’t know any better, she’d say Kristoff was quite literally cursed, turned to stone, incapable of movement. <em>Probably because you’re giving him a death stare to rival Medusa, you freckle—faced moron!</em> Anna’s thoughts scolded. Taking the constructive self criticism into account, she softened her gaze with a smile, still no response. “Ok, lets try something else.” So she blinked. Kristoff blinked twice. Anna may have wanted to be amused at the parroted action, but she needed to talk to him. While in reality this silence had only lasted seven seconds, to Anna it felt more like seven hours. Seven hours of pure, strange, silent… weirdness…</p><p>The cuckoo that erupted out of the clock happily did all the hard work for her. Its repetitive chimes drew Kristoff out of whatever stagnant state he was in. Before she had the time to consider when, where, why and how Elsa bought and used a cuckoo clock for her study room, Kristoff finally spoke up.</p><p>“Bad time, feisty pants?” That’s a nickname she hadn’t heard Kristoff refer to her for a long, long time. She always liked that name, it always reminded her of their adventure up the North Mountain. It still felt like only yesterday…</p><p>But this was now, and right now, Anna didn’t exactly want to admit that she, the Queen of Arendelle, thawer (That’s a word right?) of the Eternal Winter, and hero of the people… was struggling.</p><p>“Maybe…?”</p><p>“That sounds suspiciously like a yes.”</p><p>“It could be.”</p><p>“It definitely is.”</p><p>“It is not.”</p><p>“Don’t lie to yourself,” A lopsided smile graces Kristoff's lips. “It is.”</p><p>There he went again with his smug confidence. Kristoff’s romance game was never exactly the best, being clumsy at worst and okayish at best. But Anna had to hand it to him, when Kristoff was right about something, he was damn right. Kristoff knew this trait about himself more than anyone, which was part of the reason Anna fell for him in the first place. She always admired that self—confidence about him, even if said confidence was turned against her. But she was Anna, and Anna was stubborn, and Anna would never back down from a fight.</p><p>“Well I mean it’s not really a yes because I haven’t actually said yes, you know? I mean of course I said it twice just now, duh, but—”</p><p>A peck on her cheek stopped her rambling dead in its tracks.</p><p>“Need a helping hand?” Kristoff’s head was right next to Anna’s, his broad body leaned over her chair. Anna could literally smell reindeer emanating from him. “What could this kingdom ending disaster ever be, your majesty?”</p><p>Since when did he get this close? Anna asked herself as Kristoff read the parchment on the desk, his log of an arm moving towards it as a large hand placed itself on paper. If Anna wasn’t so busy focusing on Kristoffs sudden proximity she may have noticed that Kristoff looked like he just saw an animal get vivisected right in front of him, complimented by the quivering arm and horrified face that would most likely go with seeing such a tragedy. Funnily enough, Anna failed to notice this, and happily explained the situation to him. Still not taking in mind that he looked about as lost as a naked child in the middle of the woods, unaware that he looked more and more lost (and naked) as she went on, and on…</p><p>And on.</p><p>“...So I’m thinking hey, you might know a thing or two about this, you traded ice for a while right? You’re perfect!” Anna’s hand lurched to the paper, happy to finally get this day long problem out of the way. She tried to pull, though she found her Fiancé's stone of a hand still holding it securely in place, “Kristoff?”</p><p>“Hm!?” Kristoff hummed with a tad bit too much urgency and eyes that were a smidge too wide. Anna finally took a look at his face, and finally started to get the hint. She had lived with Elsa for three years, she knew the look of anxiety when she saw it. She took this look into account as her eyes flickered between the paper and Kristoff.</p><p>“Your hand?” Kristoff's eyes darted towards the paper.</p><p>“Oh!” Kristoff’s hand leapt away from the desk, retreating to rub the back of his neck. “Sorry,” he laughed out nervously. “I’m just not used to—” Kristoff felt paper where he expected his hand on the back of his neck. He put it back in front of him to find that his own sweat caused the paper to stick to his hand. Delightful. “Not used to…” Kristoff's eyes darted around to anything and everything in the room, anything and everything that wasn’t Anna.</p><p>“…What, exactly?” Anna asked, her tone faintly teasing. This put the ice master back into focus. Kristoff took the paper in both hands, and brown eyes locked with teal. The former filled with shame, the latter with understanding.</p><p>“Well it's just that I’m not that good at—'' Kristoff's eyes fell back down to the paper. “Um…” Anna smiled gently, silently pushing him on. He put his arms down, paper in hand, and gave a defeated sigh.</p><p>“Reading…”</p><p>Silence filled the room once more as Anna processed Kristoff’s words. “I can read more basic words!” Kristoff defended. “Stuff like ‘Sauna’ and ‘Banana’... But this…” Kristoff's head turned to the paper. “it’s… icky...” Kristoff trailed off. His voice weaving into silence, nothing left behind but the ticking of the clock once more. Any other monarch may have been shocked at this revelation, any noble for that matter. They’d have most likely seen him as lesser, maybe dumb, perhaps stupid, possibly worse, yet another example of why the commonwealth should never associate with those of a ‘Higher Class’...</p><p>“Wait, what?”</p><p>But Anna was just confused.</p><p>Kristoff looked at Anna again, face laced with what could only be seen as shame.</p><p>“I know I know, I’ve lived with trolls most of my life so I’ve never had the chance to—”</p><p>“No I mean like, what? It’s been three years.”</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“Three years!” She turned her head up to shout at the ceiling. “That’s how long we’ve known each other for!” Her forehead landed on the desk, muffling her speech. “I shudeff noan soona.”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“I should’ve known sooner! Me and Elsa could’ve helped. You could’ve been reading properly by now!” Anna looked to Kristoff again, care ever so present in her eyes, “Sorry...”</p><p>All signs of worry drifted away from Kristoff’s face, as it transformed into one of admiration, a look that started becoming a lot more common since he proposed.</p><p>“I’ve wasted time you could’ve been having with Sven.”</p><p>“It’s cool.”</p><p>“You could’ve both been eating a carrot or something.”</p><p>“Anna.”</p><p>“But instead you’ve been literally thrown into this world you have no clue about and now I’m thinking about why I didn’t realize you couldn’t read—</p><p>“Darling.”</p><p>“—for three years, wow yippee Anna, great observation skills, it's not like you never actually called Oaken's shop by its full name—</p><p>“It’s fine.”</p><p>“—like ever, and I’ve not caught you with a book once!”</p><p>“Gingersnap.” Cute nickname, but she was far from finished.</p><p>“Like, why did I never question that? What’s up with that? Can’t I be a considerate girlfriend for once in my—”</p><p>Strong arms awkwardly embracing her shook her out of her ramble.</p><p>“You’re fine Anna,” Kristoff said, warmth evident, “Just fine.”</p><p>They stayed like that for a good few moments, Anna never really minded his hugs that much, or the intimacy. Kristoff's large frame was always a delight to hug or be hugged by. But as much as she hated to admit it, she never really liked to do so for more than a minute. Because of… Well…</p><p>
  <em>That smell...</em>
</p><p>Kristoff thankfully parted the embrace not too long after he initiated it.</p><p>“Also,” he winked, “good luck.” Kristoff started to lean forward again, towards her face. Anna could tell he was motioning for a kiss on the lips.</p><p>Not this time.</p><p>She turned her attention back to the most annoying collection of tree words she had ever seen as Kristoff’s lips landed on her cheek. Kristoff moved back up to an upright position, she could almost feel his stare. She heard him breathe in, then sigh as he walked away.</p><p>“Don’t work yourself too hard, my love.”</p><p>“Honestly, at this rate I’m pretty sure I won’t.”</p><p>Anna heard him pull the door open.</p><p>“You’ll get there eventually,” Kristoff said, his voice bearing a strange inflection, strange to Anna anyway. He finally left the room, the door creaked as he strolled out, and clicked as it shut. Anna sighed, this was becoming a massive problem. So much talking, so little progress. In layman's terms, Anna was getting rather annoyed. She huffed as she clawed at her eyes in exasperation, dragging the bottom lids down to reveal the red beneath her eyes.</p><p>
  <em>This is fine, you may have completely botched your first day as Queen, but you’re fine.</em>
</p><p>The door slammed open once again. Anna groaned, did Kristoff leave a carrot again?</p><p>A loud, jolly voice invaded the quiet of the study. “I am entering the room!”</p><p>“Go away, Olaf.”</p><p>“I am leaving the room!” The door slammed shut.</p><p>Anna immediately felt instant guilt at her sudden, blunt dismissal of the snowman. She knew that he just wanted to play, maybe talk, share daydreams from his childlike imagination, discuss about the existential dread that one day, everyone you know and love in the world will inevitably pass away, not to be remembered by anyone or anything, only to be replaced by the world’s next generation.</p><p>Happy, jolly things.</p><p>On any other day she too would be happy and jolly to do any such things with Olaf. But now was really not a great time for her. Responsibilities sucked. Thankfully, Olaf seemed to understand, a good sign that he’s properly matured with age. A good adventure would do that to anyone, even snow people… men… things?…</p><p>Anna looked out the large, oval—shaped window in front of her. If there was one thing to be said about Elsa, it was most certainly her great taste. The window overlooked Arendelle's one and only fjord, normally filled to the brim with ships and boats of varying designs, colours and flags gliding across Arendelle's crystal clear, deep blue waters. Anna reckoned Elsa chose this room specifically as a study for that very reason. In theory, a view like this would be perfect for anticipating the arrival of any guests, trade partners, royals, anything and anyone really. It must’ve helped give Elsa at least a little sense of control in the ever so frantic world of royal duties, giving her a sense of calm as the world slowly flew by outside her window. The calls of gulls and distant bustle of townsfolk blessing her ears, not to mention the great view.</p><p>Whilst Anna could certainly vouch for the sense of control, she really never understood the appeal of knowing that time was passing by.</p><p>The window’s view did not only encompass Arendelle’s fjord. If one were to look to their left, they’d easily eye the large valley carpeted below Arendelle’s cliff face. Anna looked at this other aspect of the windows view and admired the valley's beauty. It bore armies of pine trees, all casting shadows across the valley. Shadows that have grown far larger, much longer and more intimidating to Anna since she first sat upon the study’s wooden chair. Although the sun's position in the sky indicated that it was still a clear day, it wouldn’t be for much longer.</p><p>She looked back to the stack of papers on her desk, having found a piece of paper that was no longer present on the pile, a smile found itself on her face. Yes! She did something! She turned her head to the paper she must’ve finished, only to have her eyes meet the paper that she had already been stuck with for God knows how long now. At this point, she was almost afraid to look at the clock, afraid to see how much of her life she’d wasted away. In all the time she’d spent sitting here she could’ve spent it doing something, anything else. Playing with Olaf, hanging out with Kristoff, eating a sandwich, frolicking with the citizens, spending time with Elsa… Anna slouched into her chair.</p><p>“Elsa…” The last thing she wanted to think of was having lost the precious time she could’ve spent with her beloved sister, the mere idea of it commanding chills to crawl down her spine.</p><p>She heard the latch of the door handle behind her, its guttural groaning took Anna out of her thoughts. The latch clicked, the door opened slowly, gently, near silently. Servants tended to open doors this way, so as to not intrude on the castles residents. The footsteps of the visitor were as light as a feather, treating the floor as if it were to collapse if one were to apply even the lightest amount of pressure to its boards. As much as Anna loved their company, she gave specific orders to not have anyone other than her friends interrupt her newfound duties, and considering the sheer amount of work she needed to do, she couldn’t afford to put it off for much longer. “Hey whoever you are!” Anna called out in an awkward state...</p><p>…</p><p>………...</p><p>Silence… Odd… Anna continued, “I’m kind of in the middle of something right now—” She awkwardly laughed out. She tucked invisible strands of hair behind her ear, a natural reflex.</p><p>“You can clean up soon. Just give me a couple of seconds, or hours—Years at this rate—, I honestly don’t know at this point.”</p><p>The steps didn’t cease in their quiet, but merely grew louder behind Anna as they drifted closer and closer to her seated position. Anna was perplexed, yet she continued to talk.</p><p>“I’m fine honestly, I’ll give the mug back soon. I don’t wanna be rude but I kind of can’t have any person in here right now… like, at all.”</p><p>The footsteps stopped dead in their tracks, still no response. Did she offend the servant? The last thing she wanted to do was make him or her feel unwanted. “Sorry,” she squeaked.</p><p>A melodic, tease laden voice glided through the air.</p><p>“And what about family?” It was calm, ethereal, royal. Anna didn’t take a single bit of notice of its source.</p><p>“Well I mean, I wouldn’t exactly call servants family you know? No offense. Like sure, they take care of you and clean stuff but that’s because they’re paid to do that kind of thing. They’re all very nice and lovely, including you I think, I don’t really know you but I like to think you are! Then again Kai and Gerda are like family to me, but that’s because I’ve known them since I was like, born and stuff… ” She chuckled nervously as the footsteps started once more, drawing ever closer. “And for other reasons...” She trailed off.</p><p>She piped up again, “Then there’s Kristoff and Sven and of course I consider them family because well one of them’s my literal Fiancé. Kristoff that is, not the reindeer, that’d be weird. Oh, and there’s Olaf who’s kind of like family to me but that’s a little more complicated. He’s kind of a friend but I’m starting to see him a bit like a son I think? Does that make sense? I don’t think it does, but it only feels like that because I made him with—”</p><p>Cold, snow white hands found their way to warm, clothed shoulders. Realization struck Anna like a hammer to the face. She gasped, her eyes lit up with the energy of fireworks, the width of her smile rivalling that of the widest chasms.</p><p>“Elsa!” The chair scraped and elicited groans out of the wooden floor as Anna leapt up and threw her arms around her dearest sister, laughing and bounding with joy as she did so. Anna had hugged many people throughout her rather short lifetime, but being in the arms of her one and only sister was something she’d never get tired of. When she hugged other people, she could always feel the warmth that radiated from them, almost felt the life they had burning inside them as they (mostly) hugged back with the exact same amount of energy.</p><p>But Elsa was a different story. She was cool to the touch, but it wasn’t like hugging something near hurtful to touch like ice. It felt more like cradling a large pillow that’d been out in the cold for too long. It was refreshing, inviting and always left you wanting more and more. The main differences between a pillow and Elsa was that a cold pillow would inevitably become warm once hugged for too long, but Elsa did not. Pillows also tended to not possess delicate, loving arms that snaked around peoples’ waists, whilst Elsa most certainly did. Hugging Elsa was a truly unique experience, and the fact that she was one of the few people to have this privilege filled her heart with joy.</p><p>Ignoring how she disliked the idea that Kristoff shared such an act with her, Anna reluctantly moved her head away from Elsa’s shoulders as she wrapped her arms around her neck. Said shoulders were incredibly comfortable, but Anna always found more comfort with the familiar act of locking eyes with her sister. Nobles, dignitaries and even some staff and citizens always considered Elsa a little emotionally distant. But Anna knew better, Elsa was always capable of expressing great affection for people, and there was no better example than when she found Elsa looking into her eyes now, accompanied by her small, adoring smile. Anna secretly adored how her heels and Elsa’s sandals brought them to equal height, it made looking into her eyes that little bit easier. Anna dearly enjoyed such moments, she always would.</p><p>“God, how long has it been?” Anna asked, as Elsa chuckled that adorable chuckle. “Gosh there’s so much we can do now!”</p><p>Her eyes lit up, “I’ve gotta show you the new statue, the new everything, everyone in town would love to see you, they—”</p><p>“Anna,” Two pairs of eyes locked once more.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“It’s only been two days.” She chuckled. “Less than that if you want to be technical—”</p><p>Anna pouted, leaving Elsa’s embrace as she delivered her accusation.</p><p>“Well, it’s not my problem you took forever to get here.”</p><p>“Well, it isn’t mine that Gale took forever to get me your letter.”</p><p>“Well then maybe Gale should go a bit faster then!” Anna lamented as Elsa pouted.</p><p>“Don’t say that! She’s doing her best!” A pause, Anna blinked.</p><p>“She?” Another pause.</p><p>“Not now Anna—”</p><p>“How would anyone even know that? It’s a spirit right?”</p><p>“I really don’t want to think about—”</p><p>“Wait no you’re a spirit, and you’re a girl so that makes even less sense.”</p><p>“I’ve been a spirit for less then two days Anna, I’m not aware of the logistics quite ye—”</p><p>“Anyway it doesn’t matter.” Anna interrupted as Elsa’s eyes narrowed.</p><p>“That’s what I was just about to—”</p><p>“I’m the Queen now hush hush commoner.” Anna smirked, but Elsa could only smirk back.</p><p>“But yet I am still the older sis—”</p><p>“All of that doesn’t matter anyway because now we’re both here—” Anna took Elsa’s hands into hers “—both together, and we ain’t got much time so we’ve gotta make the most of it!” Anna’s face lit up with determination whilst Elsa’s fell, Anna noticed.</p><p>Something was clearly on her mind. Anna’s thumbs rubbed circles on Elsa’s hands, and looked into blue irises once more.</p><p>“What’s up, sis?” The following silence was deafening, no one marking it except the ever—ticking clock. Elsa looked away from Anna, back to her, then roamed her eyes across the room’s upper walls, until her eyes landed on Anna’s, distress having fizzled away.</p><p>“The better question would be what have you been up to.” Elsa nodded her head towards the stack of papers on the desk, a teasing grin crawling up her face.</p><p><em>Smart</em> Anna thought. Elsa near glided over to the documents, her cape giving her a grace not too dissimilar to that of a swan. <em>But we will talk about this.</em></p><p>As Elsa eyed the documents in front of her, her shoulders slumped instantly. <em>Sooner or later.</em> The temperature in the room dropped to a massive degree.</p><p>“I’m so sorry, Anna.”</p><p>Aside from the violent cold, Elsa’s drastic shift from confident to downtrodden drew immediate attention from Anna. Elsa sounded choked, desperate, clearly guilty about something. What on earth was she hiding?</p><p>“Sorry for what?” Anna poked. Although she had no doubt in her mind that Elsa felt guilt at thrusting her into this world of royals and dignitaries, it was apparent that something else was eating her from the inside.</p><p>“For this, I suppose,” Elsa near whispered, having gestured towards the mountain of papers. Most other people would say she was solely talking about such papers, but Anna wasn’t stupid. She knew what Elsa was thinking, she was thinking about everything else that Elsa had brought upon Anna. Elsa felt guilty, downtrodden, probably thought that she did this dreadful awful thing to Anna and that she was the worst human being to ever have graced existence.</p><p>Anna wasn’t having a single bit of it, which motivated her decision to put an arm around Elsa’s shoulder.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it! It’s fine! I’ve only been going at this, like, all day—” Elsa bolted away from Anna’s touch, eyes wide as craters.</p><p>“All day?!”</p><p>“—but it's fine!”</p><p>“No, Anna.” Elsa's tone sounded calmly authoritative, not too different to how she talked to various nobles during meetings. It was understanding yet commanding. Elsa had never talked to Anna this way before.</p><p>She liked it.</p><p>“These were mine, and therefore should not be your responsibility.” Elsa gracefully sat on Anna’s chair, gently putting the pen between her delicate fingers, “I'm going to do them.”</p><p><em>Oh no you’re not.</em> Elsa had been going at this for the last three years, and despite Elsa’s natural talent for the life of a royal, Anna knew for a fact that this was not where she belonged. The last thing Elsa needed right now was for her to do all of this work due to some misplaced idea. She had been feeling guilty for everything, and Anna was going to stop it now!</p><p>“Nope!” Anna immediately sat down on Elsa’s lap, the sudden weight eliciting an ‘Oomf’ out of the older girl.</p><p>“You ain’t doing something out of guilt in my royal presence!” Elsa looked at the back of Anna’s black and green blazer, confusion illustrated her face.</p><p>“Anna, what are you doing?” Anna turned her head as best as she could to face her sister.</p><p>“I’m Queen now, and only the Queen can do Queen work.” Elsa eyed the document that had been troubling Anna for the past couple of hours, then her eyes moved to Anna’s as she raised a brow. Anna could tell what Elsa was implying, and she wasn’t having it.</p><p>“But Queens have helpers, and that’s what you can be for today,” Elsa smirked triumphantly. Anna affectionately patted Elsa on the head, “A helper.” Anna really appreciated that Elsa’s style was more of the hair down variety these days. So soft...</p><p>“Is that even a word?” Anna took the pen from Elsa’s hands.</p><p>“I don’t know,'' Anna turned to her arch nemesis, the paper. “But what I do know…” She pointed her pen towards the devilish time waster. “Is that this deal is going dow—”</p><p>“That’s a letter Anna,” Elsa chided. Anna groaned, as she hunched her shoulders, “You don’t write on letters.” Anna sighed, her body started to move forward. “Well...” Her head made contact with the table for the second time that day. “Not on previously written ones at least.” Anna raised her head.</p><p>“I knew that.” Before she could think about how Elsa felt at her incompetence, she felt skinny yet careful arms wrap around her waist, and a chin using Anna’s shoulder as its resting place. The chin was as cool as any other part of Elsa’s body. And just like any other part of Elsa’s body, Anna welcomed it, easily having embraced the initiated affection she normally lacked from Elsa. That’s not to say Elsa was never affectionate, but Anna liked to think that living separately now drove previously secluded cuddling tendencies out of the blonde as she now further appreciated her younger sister's presence. She felt protected in this embrace, secure, loved. She adored it.</p><p>“So, this letter.”</p><p>“Mm?”</p><p>“What do we do about it?”</p><p>“Well first off, we begin with identifying…”</p><p>Time drifted away as two sisters progressed through paper, after paper, after paper. Whenever Anna misunderstood something, Elsa was more than happy to fill her in the blanks. Whenever Anna had no idea what a certain word meant, Elsa told her in an instant. Anna always looked up to Elsa’s academic knowledge, always wishing she had the memory and patience that Elsa possessed (probably a good reason why she should read more).</p><p>Elsa’s powers and now status as a Spirit were something to be greatly admired, but many people never took into account Elsa’s breadth of knowledge concerning politics and the sciences. In Anna’s opinion, she thought that the amount of information that Elsa contained in that brain of hers was a power in and of itself; a power that did nothing but further contribute to Elsa’s status as literally the best person to have ever lived.</p><p>But the thing Anna loved most about this learning session? Elsa’s smell. She smelt of pure nature, truly emanating the scent of someone that spent her life in a forest. Kristoff smelt natural too, but more so in a sweaty, manly kind of way. Not too dissimilar to a greasy animal one could find in the woods (Which made sense considering his best friend is, like, a reindeer). But Elsa was different.</p><p>For a woman that’s only been living in a forest for a mere two days now, Elsa smelt absolutely refreshing. She used to smell of lavender, but now she smelled of freshly trimmed wood, with a mixture of unidentifiable flowers, herbs, and a hint of mint for good measure. Whereas Kristoff’s scent would almost drag Anna back into the reality of the real world, Elsa’s gently carried her into one of tranquility and content. Elsa’s world. If Anna could describe it any better, it would be that she simply felt safe, home, more so than with Kristoff, or even Arendelle. Elsa was all she needed to be at peace.</p><p>Ten minutes passed, and the sisters finished the paperwork in record time. Anna was absolutely shocked at what she and Elsa could accomplish together, shocked at how fun literally anything was when Elsa was around, and even more shocked when she realized that the ten minutes they spent doing this work was not actually ten minutes. One glance outside was all she needed in order to register that the sky doesn’t turn from clear blue to a shade of pinkish red in that short span of time. The sun was setting, the day nearly at its end.</p><p>But that didn’t matter. Anna hastily got off Elsa’s lap, (regrettably) left her embrace, and gave her the warmest thank you hug any person could ever possibly give (as if her constant vocal ‘thank you’s during said hug weren’t enough). Anna thought about how they’d still have the evening to spend their short weekend together. She stopped the hug to take a look at Elsa’s content smile. Anna was excited, she was ecstatic, she was ready, born ready for the bestest, most amazing, absolutely wonderful weekend of all—</p><p>Realisation struck as a previously forgotten memory slapped Anna about as hard as her own hand as she groaned in frustration.</p><p>“Oh shoot!” Anna bolted to the door. How on earth did she forget? Spending time with Elsa was amazing, but good grief did it cause things to slip past her mind. Elsa watched Anna’s actions, confused, and stood out of the chair, trying to catch up with the surprisingly fast younger woman.</p><p>“What’s wrong?”</p><p>“Meeting!” Anna shouted.</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“Me and Kristoff!” Anna’s hand desperately found its way to the door handle, pulling it down, ready to be opened. “We’ve got a meeting!”</p>
<hr/><p>“How on earth did I ever tolerate wearing this in meetings?” Garbed in an outfit not too dissimilar in design to her coronation dress, minus the cape, plus the flexibility required for comfort in a more political environment, a fact Elsa thought was ironic as she found herself in great discomfort of the thing as she pulled at the collar strangling her neck.</p><p>It was something left over from her short reign as Queen, never worn often, especially after having discovered how to make her ice dresses more fabric—like. Now she remembered why. The dress felt constrictive, overbearing, almost as if a metaphorical weight suddenly returned to her shoulders, patiently crushing her, ready for the first sign of breakage. Even the braid she used to justify her own freedom now made her feel restricted. She didn’t like this new association with her former life, she used to love her braid, as did Anna, but now… she kind of despised it.</p><p>“Same way you wear ice every day, Sis.” Elsa turned to find an ecstatic Anna facing her, pumping her fist in the air. “With confidence!”</p><p>Ever since the day of the Great Thaw, Elsa secretly vowed to help Anna by any means possible. From Anna’s birthday, to helping her out with relationship troubles, she vowed that she’d do everything in her power to keep Anna safe and most important of all, happy. Today was no different; Elsa left Anna with the mess that was her paperwork, so in turn she vowed to help her sister with it no matter what. And again, Elsa vowed to help Anna with her meeting, the meeting that Elsa herself was meant to attend before she awoke the spirits. Although Anna never said so directly, she could tell her younger sister was nervous, very nervous. Hands wrung together, invisible strands endlessly tucked behind her ear, her lip being bitten as if it was her life line. Elsa understood those feelings perfectly, but not because she never felt those feelings in her own time as Queen.</p><p>It’s not every day you conducted meetings with The Southern Isles. Three representatives from the region had been scheduled to conduct a meeting with Elsa on that very day, nothing but twin wooden doors separating them from the two sisters, plus a royal ice master.</p><p>“At least you have something decent to wear.” Kristoff interjected to Elsa. Anna turned her head the opposite direction to look at Kristoff, appalled at his self—deprecation. Elsa always admired Anna’s devotion to others. Many people in this world were nice, sure, but what separated them from a truly good person was the need to help others by any means necessary. Anna went above and beyond good multiple times. She wasn’t just ‘good’, she was great, always trying her best to lift people's spirits.</p><p>“Kristoff don’t you dare say that you look handso—”</p><p>“And the know—how of running a kingdom.” But Kristoff wasn’t listening.</p><p>“It’s only your second day—”</p><p>“And ice powers.”</p><p>“Ice powers don’t matter—”</p><p>“Jeez the things I’d do for ice powers.”</p><p>“Don’t get yourself all worked up Kristoff, or any of us actually, it’s just...” Anna looked up to the large, extravagant dark brown doors of the meeting room with grotesque anticipation. Anna breathed in, then spoke, her breath shaky, “The Isles,” she gulped, “In the South.”</p><p>Since the Great Thaw, Anna never spoke of Hans that much. Sure, she may have made a joke at his expense every now and then, but otherwise never dwelled on the man. Whenever he was brought up by anyone other than her, Elsa always noticed a little something was taken from Anna. A laugh a little too forced, a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes, a little less social participation from Anna, less Anna… Elsa despised the man, with every muscle, inch and fibre of her being. Elsa never brought Hans up in Anna’s presence for that very reason, she refused to let a man who was no longer a part of their lives to affect them ever so, to still cast this shadow over the bliss she called their lives. This meeting would be no different. No matter who lay behind these doors— whether they be good or evil, greedy or generous— Elsa would cease any and all influence that sideburned stain had on their existence.</p><p>Elsa took Anna’s hand in hers, interlocking them, giving the latter's hand a light squeeze. A protective gesture, one Elsa would always use to try and calm Anna’s nerves, to remind her she’s here, forever and always. Anna took clear notice of the action, she looked to Elsa, and smiled. Elsa would do everything in her power to make sure that smile stayed there, she’d do it for the rest of her days, Anna’s days…</p><p>Elsa never found conveying her emotions that easy, years of being told to hide them would do that to any person, but Elsa tried her absolute best to convey to her sister what she needed to hear the most: her older sister's faith.</p><p>She’d do great.</p><p>She tried her best to convey the thought with her gaze alone. In hindsight it would’ve been best to say this to her out loud, but if Anna was any example to go by, it was that action spoke far louder than words. Anna beamed, her shoulders straightened, her chest rose. Elsa’s action seemingly gave Anna the determination to plough through any and all trials this meeting could throw at her, Anna looked at the doors again, a newfound glint in her eye.</p><p>“We’re going to be fine” The Queen stated with pride. “You, me, reindeer man?”</p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“We’re the best team in the world,” Anna sported a lopsided grin. Elsa needed to give her the courage.</p><p>“The ultimate team.”</p><p>Because Elsa had no idea what the rest of the Southern Isles were truly capable of.</p><p>Servants opened the doors to the meeting room, the boom of the giant wooden slabs echoed across its walls. The trio strode in, their numbers mirrored those of the representatives. The doors shut behind them with an audible bang, a freckled hand gripped harder on its snow white twin, a pale thumb soothed circles in response.</p><p>Said representatives sat on the opposite end of the large, circular, oaken table of the meeting room. All male, the man in the middle was burly, bearing a tad bit of belly, but otherwise well rounded. If his numerous badges coating his chest weren’t indication of experience, his eyes most certainly were. It appeared he was the eldest of the three, if the ever so slight grey in his beard was anything to go by. The man to his left was the tallest, one could even argue he was the most handsome of the three. Though Elsa was never the best at determining the physical attractiveness of a person, even she could recognize that his defined jawline and blue eyes were indications of general, objective attractiveness. Not her type though, even if she appreciated well groomed hair whenever she saw it. Maybe it was the clam shell mirror sticking out of his jacket pocket that put her off. The final man on the right was more of an enigma. His hair was long, shoulder length to be exact— coating them like waves on a rock face. Stationary, curly waves, but waves nonetheless. His moustache appeared newly grown, not too well defined, with specks of his upper lip still clearly observable underneath little tufts of facial hair. If this look and the raggy, patchy, slightly torn, unkempt, stained clothes were anything to go by, Elsa drily deduced that his visual choices weren’t stylistic in nature. But it was his eyes that drew Elsa’s interest, they bore some form of intensity that betrayed his otherwise relaxed nature. They were focused, determined almost, like a predator on the cusp of pouncing on its prey. She didn’t know what to expect from such eyes, but it certainly wasn’t good, especially when they stared right into her.</p><p>All three were different. Bearing nothing in common but the ginger in their hair. It was apparent, they were brothers.</p><p>Hans’s brothers.</p><p>All three noticed the bang of the doors, all three cast their eyes to the trio opposite them. The one that bore blue eyes glanced over to Anna, right before he joined the other two to stare at Elsa. The three looked at her for what felt like hours. She couldn’t discern what they were looking at her with. Not disdain, nor contempt, but most certainly not joy. If Elsa had to make a guess, she would say that it was mild curiosity. Though it easily could’ve been weariness, or slight suspicion. Elsa was all too aware of those kinds of looks, and she did not like them.</p><p>Although she couldn’t feel it herself, it would take an idiot not to notice how everyone's breath was now visible in the room. Elsa never liked eyes on her, and she most certainly did not like it now, neither did Elsa like these people, not a single bit.</p><p>And she absolutely did not like the way Blue Eyes looked at Anna.</p><p>“Pardon my bluntness, your highness” Blues Eyes slithered. “But may I pertain to why we’re conducting this meeting with you?” He motioned towards Elsa, “For the person we actually—</p><p>Actually?</p><p>—wanted to discuss with is walking right in front of me. Why could that possibly be?” Eldest turned to him and gave him a look. Blue Eyes breathed through his nose, sat up straight and returned a look to his left.</p><p>Elsa was just about to open her mouth to answer his query, but her sister beat her to the punch.</p><p>“Familial concerns,” The trio took their seats, “that’s all there is to it.” Long Hair raised a brow, Eldest spoke up.</p><p>“Do not fret young Queen.” Young Queen?</p><p>His voice was gentle, genuine. When he smiled, it was sincere, even reaching his eyes. “We are most certainly familiar with… Familial conce—”</p><p>“Don’t worry,” Kristoff interrupted as he locked eyes with the man “So is she.” Anna smiled, and gave an affectionate pat to Kristoff's shoulder.</p><p>Elsa did not have a good feeling about this meeting. Anna mostly had the formal language down, but the royals of the Southern Isles didn't exactly seem like the best people to conduct your first meeting with. Elsa should’ve taken this meeting; one more reason for her to regret leaving everything behind.</p><p>Eldest's eyes widened, his smile having vanished, his sombre voice near boomed across the room.</p><p>“Good grief where are our manners? We’ve barely introduced ourselves.” He put his hand over his chest. “You may refer to me as Gabriel.” He gestured to his left.</p><p>“You’ve already spoken with Tanet, do forgive his wording, he tends to forget about what he should—” He glared at his younger brother. “—and should not say.” Tanet shot Gabriel a side eyed grimace, Gabriel waved at the long haired brother.</p><p>“And this here is Marcus,” Marcus grunted in response, his gaze distant. Gabriel looked to the Arendellian royals and shrugged as his wheeze of a chuckle climbed its way out of his throat.</p><p>Elsa didn’t trust this man's jolly nature one bit, if there was anything she knew about attending meetings with her father as a child, it was that the more polite someone was, the more likely they were to want something from you. People as a species are polite, but not to everyone. Never without good reason. In fact, Elsa could near pinpoint the exact moment he’d ask for something. That was the lesson she needed to teach Anna right now.</p><p>Gabriel took away all time Elsa could have used to do so.</p><p>“Siblings,” Gabriel said as his chuckle died down, looking upon the two sisters. “You know how they are, not always doing what you want them to do.”</p><p>“Is that a common problem?” Kristoff spat; Anna shot him a warning look. Gabriel took the remark with ease, voice as steady as a river.</p><p>“Perhaps.” Forefinger and thumb found themselves scratching Gabriels beard. “It depends on the sibling in all honesty.”</p><p>“Which ones?” For the first time in the meeting, Gabriel actually made eye contact with Kristoff. He looked at— No, into Kristoff, he knew who the harvester was referring to. If Elsa’s experience was anything to go by, Gabriel was first and foremost an experienced politician, and like many politicians, did what he did best: Avoid the question.</p><p>“The ones that lack what you have in spades, young man. Cooperation.”</p><p>Her father always referred to a moment like this as the ‘lead in’. When a royal or other type of politician made a general statement about a seemingly unrelated topic, sometimes even ending the sentence on a specific word, using it as the ‘theme’ for their next statement.</p><p>“Unlike you—”</p><p>Starting with a compliment, used to relax the person they’re asking from, to put them at ease, to make them feel like they’re friends. A smart move.</p><p>“—and Arendelle.”</p><p>He even complimented their home, impressive. After all, a home is something one takes pride in. A reflection of themselves, but on a broader, visual level, something that someone cared for deeply. It’s only natural that someone's compliments extended to an equally extended version of oneself, and an entire town was no different to one's home if you governed it and took care of it like any other household.</p><p>“One of the most beautiful nations across the land, harbourer of mountains, and reindeer,” he looked to Elsa, “even magic.”</p><p>More compliments, to her specifically no less. Typical, he should lead in with his desires any second now.</p><p>“But most importantly—”</p><p>Here it comes.</p><p>“Ice.”</p><p>Jackpot.</p><p>“As I’m rather sure you’re aware, hopefully at least, the Southern Isles are not exactly the most… forgiving of places during the summer time. It can make the many people that live there rather… uncomfortable.”</p><p>What Gabriel spoke was true. Any sense of warmth Arendelle possessed during summer, the Southern Isles bore ten fold. Workers were more likely to suffer from heat exhaustion (especially those who worked in factories). Many common citizens had to deal with thick miasma in their homes, forcing them further outside. Sleep deprivation came to many, and any crop farming was made significantly more difficult due to scorching sun and scarce rainfall. Fortunately, due to the admittedly great care and consideration the Isles had over their citizens, these were mostly non—issues.</p><p>But something was noticeably different this time around, otherwise they’d be no meeting held in the first place, and Elsa would’ve had more time to spend with Anna. Her sister listened intently to the man, having soaked in every last one of his words, with a face of sympathy that just wanted to help. Elsa had to be careful, she knew all too well how a person could appeal to others’ emotions. As much as she hated to admit it to herself, sometimes Anna’s need to do the right thing all too often got in the way of doing the correct thing, and she was afraid a certain someone let Gabriel in on this very flaw.</p><p>Judging by the way he had explained the issue, he could go one of two ways: create a point of empathy, or go straight in for the kill and explain what’s in it for them. He glanced over all three people opposite him. “I’m sure that you’re all familiar with how weather can affect one's people.”</p><p>He chose the former, a good choice, since the statement struck Elsa to her very core. The imagery in her mind's eye was just as harsh as it was most days. Withered and pale— starving, thin men, women and children fighting for their lives were the most common things she associated with the events that occured in Arendelle three years prior. Images that she would bear for the rest of time. Anna always told her that the people forgave her, that they loved her now, that all was happy and jolly in the blessed little town. But Elsa didn’t feel that, not a single bit.</p><p>“Gabriel,” Anna’s words shook Elsa out of her self degrading chastization, “I would be honored to assist you in combating the struggles of The Southern Isles.”</p><p>Anna looked to Elsa, the platinum blonde trying her hardest to give her a look of caution, trying to warn her of these people. Anna got led on once, she could not afford to do so again. The strawberry blonde turnt her eyes back to Gabriel,</p><p>“But before I do anything, I’d need to know what we would get in return for assisting you in your cause.” Anna leaned forward, and shrugged her shoulders, inviting understanding. “It’s only fair.”</p><p>Emphasizing the empathy of the situation, Elsa was impressed.</p><p>But Tanet chimed his way into the conversation.</p><p>“I’m most glad you asked, your Majesty,” His one sided smile was broad, it bared his teeth, and sent chills through Elsa’s spine. The way he slithered out ‘Your Majesty’ didn’t help matters in the slightest. Seeing this man was like seeing a reflection through one of those strange mirrors that distorted one’s body; he was a reflection of Hans. But unlike Hans, his jaw was sharper, more defined. His eyes a dark blue whereas Hans's were a light brown. His face square where Hans's was triangular. But all else was near the same. The way they talked, expressed themselves. It was all too reminiscent of Elsa’s time in her dungeon.</p><p>He was the one Elsa liked the least.</p><p>“As we were introduced to your—” Tanet raised his arms out, gesturing to the entire room “—humble abode, I noticed that your protection was rather…” He put his arm out in front him, opening his hand. “Hm… How do I put this?...” He inspected his nails, back and front, lacking eye contact. “Do forgive my brusqueness, but I found it to be… lacking.”</p><p>The nerve of this person.</p><p>“We wouldn’t dare want anything dastardly to occur; I of all people most certainly wouldn’t want anything to happen to someone as special as you, your Majesty.”</p><p>Was that a threat? Flirtation? Elsa couldn’t make sense of Tanet's tone, but one look at Kristoff showed that she wasn’t the only one to have noticed. One look at Anna didn’t show much, either she did not notice, did not care, or worse yet, she did in fact notice, but merely waited for the perfect opportunity to take advantage of him, and call him out openly in front of the entire room.</p><p>The thought terrified her.</p><p>Tanet continued.</p><p>“So I propose that in return for your ice, what you so rightfully deserve are our unrivalled, exquisite muskets.”</p><p>Wait what? Muskets?</p><p>“For your own pleasure.”</p><p>What the—</p><p>Images, flashes, memories of all kinds flooded her vision at once, flooding her mind's eye. Numerous— gargantuan— the vividness of the imagery, the sheer magnitude of it all made her head spin. Elsa had to close her eyes, had to try to dissect the onslaught of memories. Her hand gripped the table, hoping to high heaven that none of her emotions manifested physically from her palm.</p><p>The event was sudden, but she had to go through them all, one step at a time. After the sudden impact of it all, Elsa was finally able to grasp something, an elongated metallic and wooden structure, easily able to be held, loaded with an assortment of small, pebble—like spheres. Muskets, of course she knew what they were, various memories of all kinds came to her. She remembered her father going to hunts with a musket in tow, many of the tools gracing the walls of his room as he comfortably read by the fire.</p><p>Wait, was it even his room? No, it wasn’t. The King loved them so much that he dedicated an entire room to all the different types of muskets he collected, she remembered visiting him in that room often in her youth. Reading to her grand tales as the light of the fire died away, before drifting to sleep in her father’s arms, waking in her bed soon after. They were important to her, they’re what got her into the habit of reading in the first place; an introduction to the many tales and adventures she would experience during her dark, crepid years in isolation.</p><p>The strangest thing about these memories was that they didn’t feel as if they were suddenly injected into her mind, thrust without a thought. No… They felt as if they had simply been there all along. Like suddenly recalling a long lost childhood memory merely due to a familiar smell. In a way, that may be what scared her the most. How long were they there? Were they there at all? Suppressed or created? Because if it was the latter, then who or what created them was frightfully talented.</p><p>A look at Kristoff and Anna was all that Elsa needed to know that she was not alone in this event. Kristoff rubbed circles on his temple continuously, groaned in pain. Elsa personally didn’t experience any such sensations herself, but it appeared as if it affected other people differently. Anna tried her hardest to seem unaffected by whatever this was, but Elsa knew that her rapid breathing, rigid posture and glazed eyes were not something Anna typically expressed in any kind of social interaction. Tanet slithered his way into their daze.</p><p>“Something queer, your Majesty?”</p><p>Oh yes, the deal, ice transportation, musket retrieving. That’s what the Southern Isles specialized in after all, their line of high quality muskets were their primary form of trade. Who could forget? It was only their entire industry.</p><p>“May I call you your Majesty? Or would you prefer your Highness?” He’s talking to her.</p><p>She shook her head and turned to Tanet, ready to respond. “Do forgive me, this arrangement between you two is rather confusing.”</p><p>Elsa went to open her mouth, only to be abruptly ceased by her sister's own answer.</p><p>“Not too dissimilar to the reason behind your family not attending.” Or was it an accusation?</p><p>Gabriel chimed in to quell troubles.</p><p>“Our father and mother together are hard at work in our nation's time of struggle, I assure you that they’re working their absolute hardest and unfortunately were not able to—”</p><p>“Your entire family.” She corrected, as she shot Gabriel’s eyes with a dead set glare, ready to kill. “Your Highness,” she spat.</p><p>“I’m not sure what our younger brother—”</p><p>“Hans.”</p><p>“—has to do with this, young Queen!” His voice slowly began to rise into a bellow, perhaps a roar.</p><p>“I’m sorry Gabriel, do forgive my suspicion of the siblings of a man who tried to kill me!”</p><p>Elsa swore she heard Marcus emit a low, deep, guttural growl. Tanet attempted to look the least bit calm as he interjected.</p><p>“That is enough.” Kristoff did not appreciate his tone.</p><p>“I’m inclined to agree.”</p><p>“Mind your tongue, harvester!”</p><p>“These hands are good for a whole lot more than harvesting,” Kristoff cracked his knuckles, “Royal.”</p><p>Kristoff’s mild threat was merely the match that lit the fire of arguments and debates that erupted within the arena the court had now become. Tanet and Kristoff were exchanging insult after insult of class, whilst Anna and Gabriel continued to deliver attack after attack concerning Hans, family, anything and everything related to the one thing that formed this rift between the two heads of the table.</p><p>What else could Elsa possibly expect?</p><p>Normally in such a time like this, she would help Anna. Aid her in this quarrel, quell the conflict, extinguish the flame that was this argument and try to cool down the fire that was her sister. But that stare, that damn stare. Whilst the others in the room were at each other's throats like rabid animals, Marcus was ever calm, ever patient. and simply stared at Elsa with those blasted eyes. It left Elsa stuck, incapable of intervention. What was he thinking, what was he feeling? Was he waiting? Waiting for what? A showdown?</p><p>They locked eyes, and this time, started at each other for what felt like eons. Elsa’s fear mere seconds away from breaking to the surface, as Marcus’s current emotions were never fully realized. All the man did was lean back, seemingly enjoying the entertainment this meeting had become. It was only then that Elsa truly took in the animosity that was present within the room, this meeting, this divide between two nations formally at peace, and all it took was one man.</p><p>Even in a time like this, the rift between Arendelle and the Southern Isles was all too illustrated. She should’ve attended this meeting, she shouldn’t have left Anna. Anna didn’t deserve any of this, Anna didn’t deserve Elsa, Elsa wasn’t good for anything. This is all she would be, a nuisance, an inconvenience, a liability for not just Anna, but for everyone she even had a fraction of care for. These feelings, these thoughts, the guilt, for everything. It was starting, Elsa could feel it…</p><p>The cold.</p><p>The chill brimmed within her, starting within her chest, before slowly making its journey across her entire body. She recognised this feeling all too well, for this was merely the first wave of cold she felt just before she would unleash something that she would regret. Despite all her power, her emotions failed her.</p><p>Again.</p><p>The cold within her body was merely the first wave of her power’s preparation, priming her body for what would be an outburst, and Elsa was not ready. The second wave came short after. But unlike the slow crawl that was the first wave, this was tidal. The power brought on by her emotions consumed her, quickly making its way through her arms, travelling into her hands. Elsa tried, tried so hard to keep it in, and she nearly succeeded. But she saw Anna, whose normally bright, happy, and cheerful face, now filled with the dark passion of distress and rage. Elsa caused it.</p><p>All of it.</p><p>It was too much. She stood, her chair rushed to meet the floor, her hands slammed on smooth wood. A bang, a magical spark, piked and serrated spikes coated the table. The blade—like structures faced outwards. Whatever space the table occupied, so did the spikes. Sculpted into a spiral that began in the middle and reached outwards as rows upon rows of bladed ice gradually increased in size from the table's core, creating a time locked tidal wave born from the greatest of panic and frustration.</p><p>The most lethal of the blades pointed directly to the brothers. She looked at— no, glared at them, hopefully giving what she thought would be a cold, hard stare. Identical in nature to her most recent winter creation. Gabriel appeared stunned, whether in fear or in appreciation she could not tell. Tanet showed clear disgust, and Marcus? Nothing. Could anything ever get to the man? His mystery aside, Elsa delivered the following with a regal confidence that only three long years of service could provide.</p><p>“Apologies everyone,” She announced to the table, mostly at the brothers. “Just got a headache”</p><p>She turned to Anna, “I won’t be gone long.”</p><p>Hopefully her gaze softened when it landed on the redhead. She tried to show with her eyes that Anna had nothing to do with her colossal outburst. Nothing could ever be further from the truth.</p><p>Elsa turned to the door, walking away from the malicious sculpture. “Continue with your civil discussion. I’ll be back soon.”</p><p>Considering she couldn’t see the faces of any of the people she left, she couldn’t quite tell whether or not what she said delivered any form of effect. But a quick grunt and clearing of an old throat made her optimistic that she at least temporarily extinguished the hateful fire that until now openly heated the room. She made her way to one of the doors and pushed, its creak and bang echoing in the room behind her. Before the door eventually shut, she heard a voice, an old voice, meekly beginning a sentence anew.</p><p>“Speaking of ice—”</p><p>Before she could hear the rest of Gabriel’s sentence, the door shut with a noticeable bang, securing Elsa away from the rest of the group.</p><p>She looked around the hallway, the afternoon near completing its shift to oranges and reds as it graced the red carpeted halls. One distinct thing Elsa noticed as she looked around these halls— besides the various paintings, ornaments, armor and jars that were no longer hers— were the distinct lack of people occupying them. No servants, no guards, nothing. Just the empty, quiet ambience of the castle hall, accompanied by the occasional audible glimpse of outside from the open windows. Elsa was more than used to this silence, it reminded her of the library; a quiet location where Elsa could freely roam in her thoughts. An action that she was going to partake in this very instant.</p><p>She began to pace.</p><p>With everyone in the room looking ready to engage in combat, Elsa had to think of some kind of way to quell any distrust that was now present behind those doors. Elsa had to remember the place where this trio came from: the Southern Isles. More importantly, they were the siblings of the man who tried to kill her, so that in and of itself didn’t exactly leave a good first impression. If these three were anything like their brother, then it was quite possible that the personas they currently exhibited were not true to themselves.</p><p>She paced faster.</p><p>Furthermore, they must want something. Sure, Gabriel mentioned that they wanted ice. Normally Elsa would find the request reasonable. Arendelle was the only place in this part of the world that possessed ice in such vast quantities— with or without her— her country was dominant in the trade of this particular item. However, these were Hans’s brothers, so surely they wanted something more. Hans said he wanted Anna’s hand, yet truly wanted to steal her birthright.</p><p>Faster more.</p><p>Gabriel wanted ice. They made their case, explained why they wanted it, but surely there was something else they needed. What could it be? Land? Resources? The throne again? Elsa’s mind continued to race with possibilities, her imagination running wild. Ice began to trail behind her, creating a thin line of frost outside the door.</p><p>Elsa lost herself within her thoughts as she went through every single of her father's teachings. She was grateful for them, every single one, but none of them could have prepared her for this.</p><p>Prepared her to do this with Anna.</p><p>An uproarious roar from the doors behind her stopped her dead in her tracks. A booming voice capable of blasting its way past the two thick wooden doors made its presence just as known to those outside the door as well as those within it. But the roar itself… It wasn’t shouting, nor arguing, not even a hint of a bicker. Instead it was…</p><p>Laughter?</p><p>That couldn’t be right, Elsa had to be mistaken, they were at each other's throats mere minutes ago, it couldn’t, shouldn’t be possible. She opened the door, took a quick look at what was a sudden surge of positive energy. The door creaked as she peeked, rather loudly. Hopefully Gabriel's boisterous laughter was loud enough to mask her entrance. Except it wasn’t just Gabriel, Tanet too was expressing a rather large amount of exuberance as he laughed along with his brother. Even Marcus showed a faint glimmer of a smile, his shoulders occasionally going up as he further attempted to contain himself.</p><p>Speaking of shoulders, Anna’s were erratically shaking like it was going out of style. Even though she could only see her back, Elsa could clearly identify her sister's hand going to her mouth in order to appear the least bit formal. She was laughing alongside them, as if nothing ever occured.</p><p>Why?</p><p>Thankfully, Gabriel’s bellowing voice gave her some insight.</p><p>“And then he smelt like horse manure for a month!”</p><p>But only some.</p><p>Tanet and Anna joined in on the sing song of Gabriel's bellowing laughter, giving the choir of laughter their own distinct voices, even Kristoff could be seen shaking his shoulders up and down in a silent chuckle. Now whilst Elsa was happy that these two were having the time of their lives, she had absolutely no idea what on earth Gabriel was talking about.</p><p>“Such a blessed sight, if only you were present to see it.” As Elsa nearly finished her journey to the table, noticing her entrance Gabriel turnt to Elsa, a genuine sincere smile on his face, “And you, former Queen.”</p><p>“That was a jolly good piece of trickery on your part.” Anna turned to face Elsa in a flash, the widest of smiles on her face, not too dissimilar to the look she’d give to Elsa whenever she’d use her magic. Elsa could only raise a brow. Trickery? Of what sort? Gabriel only leaned forward, his thin smile becoming just that little bit less. What he said next was but above a whisper, clearly heard, but yet if one were not to pay attention, anyone could miss it.</p><p>“Well done,” he said, uttering it as if he was a father to his own son, he was proud. But what for?</p><p>Anna cleared her throat, hopefully she’d be able to clear things up a bit.</p><p>“Di—” Anna had to stop herself from laughing to the heavens. “Sorry.” Her laughter was barely restrained, “Just give me a moment.”</p><p>More held back laughter.</p><p>“Did—” She coughed into her fist, “—did… did you do this?” Anna’s smile was expectant, hopeful. Elsa never ceased to adore that look, but there was one slight issue.</p><p>There was no answer, just more questions. Fantastic. Elsa decided to give them some kind of response.</p><p>“I’m sorry I…” Everyone in the room, even Kristoff, were clearly expectant. If she were in this position three years ago, she’d try her best to please such expectancy, but this was now.</p><p>“I don’t really know what you mean…” And she was not sorry to disappoint. She tried her best to give off the cold ‘Ice Queen’ demeanor less likeable nations tended to refer to her as. But seeing Anna’s smile, how relaxed and happy she was, Elsa couldn’t help but reflect a small one of her own. “Sorry…”</p><p>“Oh don’t be of such daftness, your Highness” Tanet chimed in. “Your work was a stroke of pure, unbridled genius!” He emphasized with a fist. Elsa felt she had just been put on a stage with the entire world as her audience. Only difference being she had no idea what to do. But Anna tried to help.</p><p>“You… really don’t know?” Elsa looked to her sister, but to her surprise, Anna didn’t look disappointed. If anything…</p><p>She looked kind of excited.</p><p>“No…”</p><p>“Okay,” Anna breathed in “Basically…” She formed her arms into a circle, just below her chest. And from that gesture alone, Elsa knew it was gonna be a good one.</p><p>“One day Hans was shovelling horse poop like he does every morning—rightfully deserved of course—then suddenly one day Gabriel found him stuck between the manure pile and a giant snowball and apparently he absolutely stank like—” She put on her best impression of Gabriel “—‘good lord’ did he stink and it’s really funny because Hans stunk anyway but he stinks even more now and because there’s no way anyone else can make giant snowballs we all know you did it.”</p><p>Anna went to turn back around, but caught herself.</p><p>“Oh and they all found it hilarious and it even sounded like the horses were laughing so yeah,” Anna sat there, looking at Elsa, incredibly happy with her elder sister, “pretty awesome.”</p><p>Speaking of laughing, the two eldest brothers were generously indulging in such behaviour during Anna’s faithful retelling. Elsa still had no idea what they were talking about, the last time she ever made a snowball was during that one point where she had a cold, and she sneezed so hard that she… Wait… Hang on…</p><p>But before Elsa could fully connect the dots, Anna continued her conversation and newfound comradery with the brothers. Only Anna could make friends with people who she made her enemies literally five minutes ago.</p><p>“You know—” she started, wiping a cheerful tear from her eye, “—with the way he must’ve smelt, you and the others must’ve shut him out even more than before.” And just like that, the brothers went dead silent. It wasn’t exactly deafening, but hearing a fly buzzing from the other side of the room would have been all too easy. The brothers, Gabriel, Tanet, even Marcus, expressed a look of confusion.</p><p>“No disrespect your Majesty,” Tanet said, leaning forward, stroking his chin. “But… others?” He raised a brow.</p><p>“You know?... Your brothers?”</p><p>No response.</p><p>“The other nine…?”</p><p>Nothing.</p><p>“Of you...?”</p><p>The brothers looked at Anna as if she’d grown a second head, then turned to one another. Gabriel shifted his head left and right repeatedly; the brothers looked about as confused as Elsa felt. But then she heard it, a quiet, barely concealed…. Chuckle coming from Gabriel’s right…</p><p>It was Marcus.</p><p>His shoulders were moving up and down, barely, then slightly, now repeatedly. They grew in pace in conjunction with his laughters volume. He opened his mouth, giving off a distinct, high pitched laugh, his brothers quickly joined in.</p><p>“Twelve! Twelve this time!” Gabriel stated with boisterous glee as his brother continued to laugh. His other quickly joined in.</p><p>“Isn’t that a new record?!”</p><p>“Good golly I hope so!” Gabriel ceased his laughing as the other two continued theirs, probably so that his need for Anna’s attention could actually be understood.</p><p>“Young Queen.”</p><p>“Hm?”</p><p>“Do forgive me, I’m not skilled in math, how many brothers did Hans say he had?”</p><p>“The youngest of twelve...?” Anna trailed as she appeared to travel three years past, the trio's howling tripled.</p><p>“I counted nine last time!” Tanet managed to laugh out. “This is a record to be sure!”</p><p>“Oh Hans—” Gabriel bellowed to the heavens “—never change!”</p><p>Except Elsa wished he would.</p><p>“Always using that line to get on the emotional side of girls, best part is it actually worked for once!” Their laughter continued.</p><p>Elsa was just confused, really confused, ever since she had returned, all she felt was confusion of the highest degree, if what she saw of Anna was anything to go by, it appeared as if she felt exactly the same way. At least, that was Elsa’s theory as to why Anna asked a question during their uproarious fit.</p><p>“So there’s… not nine more of—”</p><p>“What you see is what you get, young Queen!”</p><p>Oh, that’s… interesting. Especially when Elsa recalled speaking to another duke or nobleman about Hans's twelve other brothers. It appeared as if he lied to almost everyone he could. Elsa wished she could say she was surprised, but not really; Hans was a dirtbag. Or manurebag, she supposed, the inner joke cracked her the smallest of smiles.</p><p>“He ain’t even the youngetht!”</p><p>A new voice, was it…</p><p>“That title belonths to me!”</p><p>It was... Marcus, his eyes defiant, his lisp demanding everyone's attention. “He wath always a bit of a di—”</p><p>“Now now Marcus,” Gabriel chided, “No cussing in front of royalty.”</p><p>“Thee’s only a couple yearths older than me!”</p><p>“Why yes but her voice isn’t as infuriating as yours,” Tanet quipped. Marcus's face could make tomatoes blush as he engaged into a battle of wits with Tanet. Gabriel merely rolled his eyes.</p><p>At first, Elsa was concerned that Hans would be the only subject of discussion in the entire meeting. But Elsa thought that’d be due to his brother's love for him, not from complete agreement with Arendelle.</p><p>“Guys.”</p><p>She almost didn’t, but she could just about hear Anna utter that one word over the audible sea of laughter, clearly attempting to break through its surface.</p><p>“Guys…” Although barely noticeable, Elsa could easily recognize through tone alone that Anna was getting frustrated. To her, this wasn't fun time, this was work time.</p><p>And Anna wanted to work.</p><p>“Gingers!” Her shout ceased their laughter near immediately. They reacted almost as if they were soldiers doing something they shouldn’t, whilst Anna was the guard having caught them in the act. The reaction struck a smile on Elsa’s face; if there was one thing Anna absolutely nailed, it was a Queen's authority. And yet that wasn’t Anna’s most distinctive trait. It was her compassion.</p><p>“All three of you are awesome,”</p><p>Marcus smiled.</p><p>“awesome in all your very own unique ways,”</p><p>Tanet seemed to beam.</p><p>“and you’re nothing like your brother, which is also—” Anna looked elated “—very awesome,”</p><p>Gabriel's smile shone through his thick beard.</p><p>“but I’m pretty sure we were here to discuss ice… right?”</p><p>“Hm… ice…” Gabriel pondered, “Ice… Oh yes of course! Do pardon my forgetfulness, young Queen.” He chuckled, his eyes twinkled.</p><p>“Especially mine, your Majesty.” Did she just see him wink?</p><p>“Oh thut up Tanet.”</p><p>Just before Tanet and Marcus started yet another squabble, Elsa watched as Anna quickly quelled any potential anger, and watched still as they all got back to business, and discussed trade and money like nothing ever happened.</p><p>Elsa was astounded, even before the whole incident with Elsa’s planned murder, the Southern Isles historically were always known to be difficult trade partners. Especially when it came to Arendelle, for reasons Elsa was ignorant of. She read the diaries and journals of kings and queens long gone, and always overheard her father's rants and anger—induced lectures concerning his dealings with Southern Isles royalty. She never understood what could’ve made the nations so contentious. But seeing Anna here, not only getting along with each of the brothers just fine, but after a big massive argument, may have given Elsa the answer. The problem may not have been the Isles, but the royalty of Arendelle. Even if she researched as far back as Arendellian archives allowed her, she’d never heard of nor read about any King or Queen such as Anna. Royalty that was forgiving, loving, understanding. Each royal she read out had at least one or two of these qualities, but Anna?</p><p>She was the whole package.</p><p>Whereas Elsa would’ve gone into this meeting with these three people with any and all preconceived notions, both from royal and personal history, Anna took her time to understand these people. And now here she was, discussing and developing a relationship with them as if she’d been friends with them for years. Her bright smile, her loving heart, she was everything Elsa was and everything Elsa wished she could be.</p><p>
  <em>You’ll do good.</em>
</p>
<hr/><p>The brothers were good people, and rather lovely.</p><p>Tanet, though pompous at first, merely just wanted to make sure that no one took advantage of his siblings. Admittedly, much of that stemmed from his own trust issues with Hans, and considering her own experiences, it was at the very least mildly understandable.</p><p>All Marcus needed was a little bit of coming out of his shell. Being the youngest of the brothers, and bearing a lisp, he was very much prone to bullying and teasing from those older than him. Hans most of all, because of course he did. This led him to adopting this ‘stoic’, ‘strong’ and ‘mysterious’ persona that’d discourage people from talking to him.</p><p>And Gabriel was Gabriel.</p><p>“Can’t wait to see you again!” Anna exclaimed with enthusiasm.</p><p>“As do I, young Queen!” Gabriel replied, reciprocating the joyful exuberance.</p><p><em>Young Queen? Absolutely!</em> First lesson learned from her super first super duper super formal meeting, a mutual hatred is the fastest avenue to a mutual friendship.</p><p>The brothers were led out down a hallway by Kai and vanished behind a corner, leaving Anna, her sister and her Fiancé alone in the dainty sunlit hall. Tanet’s wave goodbye being the last thing to leave their vision.</p><p>“The one with nice hair definitely likes you.” Anna’s head jolted to Kristoff.</p><p>“No he does not!”</p><p>“I would say I’m surprised, but we both know it wouldn’t have been the first time.”</p><p>Anna turned to him fully, a pout on her face. He was not getting away with this, not this time. This man is gonna get what he rightfully deserved. An accusatory finger sprouted from her fist.</p><p>“Now listen here you carrot eating, shed sleeping, dung sniffing—”</p><p>“—Booger eating,” Kristoff informed her. Anna growled, clenching her fists in frustration, faintly she heard soft footsteps moving away from them to a nearby window, accompanied by a magical flurry of twinkles and sparks, but that wasn’t important right now. What was important was that in the past three years of knowing Kristoff was that whatever he couldn’t be taught with words, he could most certainly remember with fists.</p><p>A punch, a howl of pain. “Jeez Anna I was joking alright I don’t eat boogers that mu—” Anna raised her fist for another go. “Ok, ok I give! I give, I don’t eat them anymore I promise!”</p><p>Anna humphed in triumph, her strength was something they established long ago, proven to be an ever effective method for Anna to get her own way. Now, since all was said and punched, she needed to go find her sister. If the amount of light that was present in the room was anything to go by, Anna would guess that it was very much nearing sunset. The hallway they stood in was dimly lit, allowing them to only faintly see one another’s face. Its walls painted with thin streaks of neon orange that had been invited inside by the castle's many open windows. The distant servant lighting the lamps was enough indication that the day was nearing its end. For most, this meant that it was time to settle, to relax from a hard day's work…</p><p>But not for Anna. For her, this meant there was at least a little hint of day left for her and Elsa. Granted, there was always tomorrow, but every second when Elsa was around counted. Which is why she turned to talk to the blonde and—</p><p>Wait, where was Elsa? She swore she was standing right behind her and Kristoff during their brief bickering session. Anna knew that Elsa wanted to spend the day together as much as she did, so where did she—</p><p>Elsa’s dress. Discarded, by the wall, neatly folded on the floor as to not get in anyone's way.</p><p><em>Who else but Elsa?</em> Anna thought with a smile. Elsa never thought she was, but it wouldn’t take much to realize that Elsa did care about the people around her, she just didn’t show it as often as she’d like. Wait… Elsa’s dress. She ain’t… she couldn’t possibly… no way…</p><p>As Anna’s cheeks gradually became identical in shade to that of a tomato, she looked up to find Elsa at the other end of a corridor, by the window. Thankfully, she was fully dressed, albeit in white.</p><p><em>Whew.</em> She had no idea why the idea of seeing a dressless snow spirit would make her feel like this, but she chose not to dwell. She’d found her sister (although there wasn’t much of a search to begin with), and now it’s time to do sister… things… What even were sister thi—</p><p>“Anna, wait.”</p><p>Oh yeah, Kristoff. Anna stopped, and turned back around to her Fiancé. Her ever present smile beamed. His hair was back to its usual messy self, just how she liked it, though it didn’t exactly match his more formal dress wear. The man, normally as chilled as Elsa’s breath, seemed to be weirdly heated up. His face flushed, tucking and fiddling with various pieces of the fabric of his clothes. The last time she remembered Kristoff looking like this was during that weird, awkward period when he wanted to propose.</p><p>“So uh… I was thinking—</p><p>“Um hm.”</p><p>“There’s this theatre in town.”</p><p>“I know, I live here.”</p><p>“And Oaken is taking part in this opera...”</p><p>“About time!”</p><p>“Yeah…” Kristoff rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Agreed...”</p><p>“When are you going?”</p><p>“Tonight, actually.” Anna’s heart sank, she had Kristoff for the entire week. What she desperately, truthfully needed was Elsa.</p><p>
  <em>I’m sorry, Kris.</em>
</p><p>“I was thinking that maybe you wanted to—”</p><p>“That sounds very nice, Kristoff…” Teal eyes looked up to hazelnut, Anna tried her hardest, her absolute hardest to try and convey that she was indeed, very sorry.</p><p>“I hope you enjoy it…” Anna was aware of how awful that sounded, she knew it, he knew it. But it wasn’t just that. Anna looked to Elsa, peacefully leaning out the window, as did Kristoff. Their eyes met once more. As much as they both tried to deny it, for Anna, Elsa always came first. No matter how much Kristoff put Anna’s needs before him, no matter how many times he tried to chase her, he would always be second to Elsa.</p><p>As he always did, Kristoff covered this ever present, stone cold truth with a smile.</p><p>“That’s alright, next time?” Anna’s returning smile was bittersweet.</p><p>“Next time,” Kristoff leaned in to kiss her on the cheek, and walked away, giving her a faint wave as he vanished behind a mere one of the many corners of the castle. Anna was about to wave herself, but it was too late.</p><p>He was gone.</p><p>Anna breathed in, the regret of rejecting Kristoff filled her entire being.</p><p>Anna breathed out, and just like that it was gone. She turned around.</p><p>No Kristoff, no meetings, no papers, no nothing. Only Elsa remained, and the ginger was ecstatic. She strode over to the blonde with the greatest of glee. From a distance, Anna most indeed identified that Elsa was leaning out the open window, but now being just at arms length away from her, she could really eye not just what Elsa was doing, but also how Elsa felt.</p><p>She was lazily looking across the perfect view of Arendelle’s fjord, which reflected the sun's heavenly light with splendour. Elsa looked so at peace, so calm, perhaps even calmer than the very waters of the fjord she so peacefully stared at. Anna wanted to touch her, except Anna felt that doing so would be like putting your grubby hands on a perfectly made sculpture, inadvertently tainting the art through one's own appreciation. Elsa looked calm, radiant, whatever word one could possibly use to describe the unique beauty that was Elsa. Her sister, Elsa, the one and only Elsa, the absolute stinker that froze all of Arendelle, that Elsa. She was any and all of these things at once, her magical powers only scratching the surface of why Anna thought she was the bestest, most amazing person in the world. Free of any and all prior experiences or bias.</p><p>Okay, maybe she was a little bit biased.</p><p>“Have you ever seen anything so beautiful?” Elsa said, jolting Anna out of her appreciation. Anna looked at her sister. Even if Elsa couldn’t see it on her face, Anna knew for a fact that Elsa would be able to hear the smile in her voice.</p><p>“I could think of a few things...” The window’s draft raised the blonde’s hair, gently flowing in the breeze. Wow. Elsa’s snow white dress truly came to life under the evening sun, glistening in all the most right of ways. The dress adopted the sun's orange light, giving the its crystals a unique marriage of white, purple and orange, which gifted it with a unique alluring glow. Complemented further by flowing platinum hair, near fluttering with the wind, relaxed, free. Just like Elsa looked, and how she felt right now. Elsa was truly free this time, truly happy. Anna couldn’t ask for anything more. She really was the definition… of a free spirit.</p><p><em>That was terrible,</em> Anna thought. Now, she really needed to get back on track. After having appreciated her sister for the quintillionth time in her life, she needed to recall what the blonde just said to her during her brief distraction.</p><p>She blinked, shook her head, and looked to her sister. “Sorry what?”</p><p>Elsa chuckled.</p><p>“I said…” She chided, turning to her sister, her eyes ever content. Her hair ever flowing in the wind.</p><p>
  <em>Sweet baby Jesus and all that is holy help me.</em>
</p><p>“That I doubt it, Anna.”</p><p><em>Oh yeah, the beautiful… thing… mumbo jumbo… stuff… right…</em> Anna cleared her throat. “Well the view from the roof certainly looks better than…” she gestured to the window, “This…” Elsa narrowed her eyes, puzzled.</p><p>“Since when could anyone get on the roof?”</p><p>Anna smirked.</p><p>“Since me.”</p><p>“How on earth did you—”</p><p>“Hungry?”</p><p>Elsa frowned.</p><p>“Not particularly—”</p><p>“Great because so am I!” Anna deflected as she bounced away.</p><p>“Anna—”</p><p>“I’ll be back from the kitchen before you know it!”</p>
<hr/><p>Elsa knew this atmosphere all too well.</p><p>The last remnants of warmth from the setting summer sun grazed the sisters' faces as they sat upon the castle roof that overlooked Arendelle, the evening wind having given them all the cool they required to not make the heat unbearable. Dock bells delivered their final chimes before their inevitable closing for the night. Citizens lit the street lamps to combat the night’s coming darkness and the gulls called to each other across the dock, their nesting grounds somewhere along the valley's cliff face. The clock tower of the town gave out one last, final set of chimes for the day, signalling that night would soon be upon the ever so quaint town. If one were to look at it more closely like Elsa did now, they might be able to spot the replica of Elsa and Anna doing the cute little dance they did every time its bell struck, even from this distance.</p><p>Arendelle was never a bustling town, but its citizens were always so full of life, of prosperity. They were happy, proud to live here. Elsa was proud herself; proud to have once ruled this place, and now so proud that Anna was the one leading them. She was meant for this, the people loved her, Elsa loved her— the perfect Queen, the perfect sister, the perfect everything.</p><p>Now, having thought about it long and hard, Elsa realized that Anna was always the one destined to rule this kingdom. As much as Elsa loved to take care of the townspeople, even she had to admit that she was never the best at managing particularly stressful situations. She commonly found herself running away from her problems as opposed to actually solving them.</p><p>That was an aspect of being queen that Elsa sorely lacked. She knew it, royals knew it, and the worst part of all, Anna secretly knew it too, even if she never chose to admit it to herself. She knew deep down in her heart that no matter how much she attempted to quell any of their worries, or further comfort them in times of the nation's hardship, the cold memory of her past actions would forever cast a shadow upon the town, her time and good deeds forever tainted by the great winter, past, present, perhaps even the future. But only time would tell.</p><p>The munching and crunching of Anna’s chewing lurched Elsa out of her thoughts entirely as she consumed her third sandwich… of the meal. Her hair glowing in the sun's warm light.</p><p>Anna always contested that she was ginger, not strawberry blonde, but the way her hair glowed in the sun changed all of that as soon as Anna saw it in its bright, blonde glory. One of the few times Anna ever admitted she was wrong. The ever changing colour of her hair was always something that Elsa found unique about Anna, and forever unique it would be.</p><p>Until it would turn grey, her skin wrinkled and decrepit, voice croaky and labored, eyes slowly but surely losing—</p><p>Elsa shook such dark thoughts from her conscience, this was not the time. This moment was perfect, she mustn’t do this, wouldn’t do this, she’d cross that bridge when she got to it. When she could attempt to face a problem instead of thinking that someone would come along and solve it for her. Instead, she focused on how Anna was Arendelle's perfect leader.</p><p>How she could so easily find herself in the most stressful situations, and yet always find even a little shimmer of light inside the darkness of this world and in turn, made herself the light of the lives of many others— both for her people and her family.</p><p>Reading minds was not one of Elsa’s powers, nor would she even attempt to try to articulate the words of someone else. But she knew for a fact that everyone that came across this woman loved her in some way. Whether it be through respect, platonic, romantic, surface level, deeper level, even the occasional crush. Arendelle didn’t simply give her the formality and rightfully given respect of a royal that most citizens were expected to give to such a person, but they went out of their way to greet Anna with both figurative and literal open arms.</p><p>Speaking of open arms, she swore she saw a kid calling to her mother as she pointed to the two of them, most likely to tell the parent that she could see the two sisters on the rooftop. The kid’s mother turned then, responding to her, probably to give her child the validation of her observation. Or saying to never do that herself because it was dangerous. One of the two. Before she could think about any further possible response, she found her sight of Arendelle replaced by that of an abnormally large sandwich being shoved in her face.</p><p>“Wonf sum?” Crumbs sprayed from her sister's mouth as Elsa heard them bounce down the castle roof. Even now, Elsa was in awe of her sister. She was literally on display in front of the entire kingdom, but was perfectly content with eating akin to a child. Yet another reason the town respected her so much. So honest, so open, so carefree.</p><p>Genuine.</p><p>Elsa pushed Anna’s arm down.</p><p>“I’m ok,” Elsa said, but Anna insisted.</p><p>“Come on Elsa you haven’t eaten a thing since you got here, it’s not like there’s anything better to eat in the forest.” Anna stopped dead in her tracks. “I mean I guess there kind of is? But like not any fruit or anything cooked, or something proper at least, wait no you have the Northuldra, they lived in the forest for decades, so they must like, cook animals over fire and stuff, but surely that’s unhygienic, and looking at a dead thing being cooked on a fire probably isn’t the best thing to whet your appetite, also you’d have to take all the organs, which is most likely horrifying and like all I want to do is eat some grub so surely it’s not ideal and then there’s the blood oh my Go—”</p><p>Elsa laughed the hardest she had for years. To think that Anna would be thoughtful enough to not only think about her well being, but to also mentally go venture through the specifics of it all, just for her.</p><p>“I appreciate the thought, I do.” Anna gave her a look. “But spirits don’t really need to eat anything in all honesty.” Anna looked at Elsa, her face nothing but that of pure wonder.</p><p>“Woah… That’s pretty cool.” Elsa gave her a look. Anna knew exactly what kind of look it was.</p><p>“Not a pun I promise!”</p><p>Elsa raised a brow.</p><p>“Honest!”</p><p>Elsa smirked.</p><p>“Sure Anna, sure.” Elsa always loved a good tease with Anna. Her reactions were the best.</p><p>“It’s not my fault that you’re amazing and that you being a spirit just gives you more amazingness.” Elsa always appreciated Anna’s undying adoration for her.</p><p>“Like, how much more amazing can you get? First we got the ice powers, then you being this magical, beautiful creature of the forest, and now I know you don’t even need to eat anything? That’s awesome!”</p><p>“There are many qualities I have that you don’t know about, Anna…”</p><p>“Really?” Anna smirked. "Like what, Elsie poo?” Anna teased, an originally forgotten childhood nickname rising from its grave.</p><p>This was her chance to finally confess, put an end to this never ending pit of grief inside her, get it off her chest, halve the problem, finally tell Anna of the awful situation Elsa drew herself into due to drastic actions. She looked at Anna, her smile ever eager, reaching her eyes, ever willing to please the only person she cared about. Elsa took a deep breath.</p><p>In. No more waiting.</p><p>And out. It was time.</p><p>“Actually Anna, there’s something I—”</p><p>Anna screamed and squealed in delight, contorting Elsa's face into that of frantic panic. She eyed a jiggly Anna’s gaze and set her sight upon a ship whilst Anna looked at it like a child would at gifts during Christmas. Rapidly repeating strings of ‘It’s here!’ and ‘Oh my gosh!’.</p><p>“Think fast!” Anna shouted. Before Elsa could even process what had just been said, her heart leapt into her throat as a mix of auburn, emerald and black rapidly slid down the castle roof. With the momentum Anna created, she propelled off the roof with ease, plummeting down to the castle floor.</p><p>“Anna!” Elsa shouted, quickly darting her hand out to create something, anything to save her sister. Anna landed somewhere out of her sight, she couldn’t hear a landing, but she couldn’t hear Anna either, and she most certainly didn’t hear the magical twinkles that normally emanated from her icy conjurings. Oh dear, she wasn’t injured was she? She wasn’t hurt… Wait no there’s no way she could possibly be—</p><p>“Whoo! Now that's what I call a trust exercise!” Anna rummaged her way out of the snow pile, eager to get to her seemingly special ship.</p><p>“Haven’t had a rush like that since Marshmallow dropped me down a cliff that one time.” Elsa most certainly heard that, especially since she decided to shoot down from the castle’s roof.</p><p>“He did what!?” Anna most certainly did not hear that, she had already brushed any and all snow off her dress and was at the other end of the castle bridge by the time Elsa created an ice staircase to get down from the roof. She dissipated both of her recent creations as soon as ice sandals met stone floor. She couldn’t see her anymore, but she needn’t worry about finding her.</p><p>She need only follow the screams…</p><p>What on earth was on that ship?</p>
<hr/><p>“Not one.”</p><p>“Nope!”</p><p>“Not two.”</p><p>“Unthinkable!”</p><p>“But not five.” Anna gasped at the accusation.</p><p>“Elsa, I’m appalled that you’d accuse your own Queen, your own sister of such—” Anna eyed the servants doing something and turned away from Elsa, “A little more to the left please!” Two groans of exhaustion (or frustration, one of the two) echoed across the gallery’s walls. “Thank you!” Anna turned back “—a sickening act!”</p><p>“But four paintings is acceptable?”</p><p>“See! Now you’re getting it— up please!” Paper and wrapping scrunched under Anna’s footsteps as she left Elsa’s side, ready to give specifics on where exactly she wanted the last painting to be placed on the wall. Although Elsa thought the objects were rather gorgeous, extravagantly compositied and coloured, Elsa was debating if the effort to get them here was actually worth it.</p><p>Once Elsa used every single piece of figurative and literal power within her being to catch up with Anna, she found the woman helping out sailors carry four gargantuan, rectangular, brown wrapped packages that even had strings tied in a bow. Whenever Elsa asked Anna what on earth was inside the things, she’d just be met with constant replies of, ‘It’s a surprise’ and ‘I’ll tell you later’, though Elsa’s personal favourite was ‘Ok I’ll tell you, they’re— Oh gosh Gerda I didn’t see where I was going I’m so sorry!’</p><p>And now here they were, bickering in the castle's art gallery, wrapping littered across the floor, the evening sky having given way to stars through the room’s glass ceiling. With the wonderful, lovely, cheerful company of two groaning, exhausted servants going through the painstaking process of hanging up the first painting serving as their only companions. Sweat laced their brows, their clothes near soaked to a different shade. Elsa never noticed the summer's effect on the servants before, her natural coolness having numbed her to the seasons’ effects on a less supernatural human body. This is probably why she was no longer queen. Anna, being human, actually had the empathetic qualities required to identify when someone was actually suffering. She wasn’t like Elsa, she wasn’t some strange, everlasting, selfish—</p><p>Elsa breathed in, the castle's stuffy summer air expanded her lungs.</p><p>She breathed out. Cool, chilled air left her now ‘o’ shaped mouth. Existential dread and a potential summer uniform for the servants aside, Elsa bore more important matters to discuss with Anna.</p><p>“England, correct?” Elsa half shouted over to a bumbling Anna. The new queen turned her head around.</p><p>“Huh?”</p><p>“This was shipped from England, right?”</p><p>“Last I checked they definitely wer—”</p><p>Anna heard a loud clang and immediately jolted back around to the servants, “What was that!?” Elsa placed her chin between her thumb and forefinger. Deliveries can’t be made just like that, it wasn’t like you could make a decision on what you wanted and then get it instantly delivered to you the next day. This was the real world, and in the real world, ordering paintings of this magnitude and quality— from such a distant country no less— meant that not only would it require extensive planning, but also a distinct sum of money. Anna wasn’t stupid (anyone who genuinely thought that could discuss it with Elsa personally), and they were clearly meant for her. So when on earth did she arrange this?</p><p>“Anna.” The woman turned once more, Elsa beckoned her over with a finger. She didn’t want to shout this out, she didn’t want the servants to hear. Anna walked over, kicking away the occasional large mound of paper. Elsa closed the distance between them, now close enough for them to communicate with nothing but eyes and quiet whispers. Elsa chose the latter for this occasion.</p><p>“You planned this?” Anna looked down from Elsa, the ginger’s own hand went to rub her arm.</p><p>“Months...” she replied meekly, “In advance…Sorry I didn’t tell you…” Something inside Elsa’s stomach fell into a deep, dark pit.</p><p>“I just didn’t want you to say no…” If this were any other person, perhaps even in an alternate time where they had more siblings, Elsa would politely but firmly tell them that this wasn’t exactly a desirable idea, and should’ve taken into more consideration where the royal funds should be invested.</p><p>But this wasn’t some other person, this was Anna, her dearest sister. A person that she had rejected for thirteen years, one month and twelve days with the help of a light grey and blue patterned door. She counted all the days, she could even take the units of time further if she really wanted to. But that wasn’t the point, the point was that to reject the eyes in front of her would be one of the most heinous of crimes.</p><p>So even if she was really that bothered with this ordeal— which she wasn’t— she couldn’t bear to look into those eyes and reject them anymore. She’d left that behind now, the past was in the past.</p><p>“Oh, Anna.” Pale hands went to cup freckled cheeks, their owner giving what she hoped to be the most sincere of all smiles, “I could never say no to you.”</p><p>Elsa embraced Anna then, the elder’s arms snaking around the younger’s shoulders, followed by the arms of the shorter making their way around the waist of the taller. Elsa lived for this, this closeness, this intimacy. Elsa never took it for granted these past three years, always grateful that she had someone as perfect as Anna at her side. She could easily say that she missed this now, having to live in the forest, or that now her time with her was limited. But in a way, these two factors made her appreciate moments like this even more. Her love for the woman having been amplified with their distance. Their love wasn’t tainted by this, no. If anything…</p><p>It was stronger, and stronger it would become as years passed, until eventually—</p><p>No, Elsa refused to bear such thoughts, not in Anna’s presence, never. But even if she chose not to, the ever increasing volume of the servants grunts would’ve most certainly distracted her from them. Anna heard them too. They left their embrace as they saw the servants struggling to keep the paintings back up. If there’s one thing Elsa appreciated about their servants, it was most certainly their dedication. But even they had limits. Their arms shook to the point where they looked like they were vibrating. Elsa would consider this from a chill if it weren’t for the sweat dripping from their beet red faces. One of the servants even had his hair sticking to his forehead, free from its constricting bow. Their groans were repetitive, slowly growing in volume. Elsa knew what was about to happen, but Anna appeared oblivious. Not a good sign.</p><p>The painting slipped from their grasp, gravity taking the painting with glee. Elsa didn’t react, not for a lack of wanting, but for a lack of needing. A blur of green and black shot past her as soon as the painting began its fall, putting itself right under it. Elsa noted that the scream from such a blur indicated that it was most certainly not a blur, but instead her sister, holding the painting in place by herself, not even breaking a sweat.</p><p>“It’s alright guys,” Anna widened her arms, distributing the weight through the rest of her body. “I’ll take it from here”</p><p>The servants looked at Anna, gasping for breath. But Anna’s readiness to help elicited a sigh of relief from both of them as they made their way down their ladders, thankful that their work had finally ended. As they made their way to the bottom, they started picking up the wrapping paper across the floor.</p><p>“I said it’s alright guys,” Anna reprimanded, her voice a tad bit strained from the awkwardness of the object she was carrying. Elsa had noticed the painting about to move forward, as if it was about to squash Anna. Elsa was ready.</p><p>“I’ll take it from— woah!”</p><p>And just like that, the painting toppled forward. Despite Anna’s shockingly high amount of strength, even she couldn’t withstand the sheer awkwardness of carrying a painting of such width by herself. But she didn’t need to.</p><p>Elsa was there to help.</p><p>She felt the power emanate from her body in a rush of cold, before manifesting out of her in the form of a gusty, icy wind that caught the painting in mid air. There the object stayed, floating up and down on Elsa’s mini geyser of wind, keeping the painting in a constant state of levitation. Anna looked on in awe, as she always did, and as that look always did to Elsa, filled her with a sense of pride to make her sister feel that way. Pride in being able to give her that ever so beautiful smile, and that pure elation in her eyes.</p><p>It also made Elsa like to show off a bit.</p><p>She manipulated her windy creation so that it moved the painting through the air, gently gliding it to the wall, before hanging it on the preplaced peg it was expected to go on.</p><p>“Woah,” Anna breathed, “Learn something new everyday I suppose.” She turned to Elsa. “Why didn’t you do that with the rest of them?”</p><p>Elsa did in fact know why she didn’t do it in the first place: she simply had no idea if her new ability would work on an object of that size. She experimented on rocks, pebbles, even small animals beforehand, but nothing as wide or large as those paintings. That’s what she could’ve explained, but having seen the look of pure exhaustion on the servants faces, she instead decided to merely shrug.</p><p>“Must’ve forgot.”</p><p>She heard two sighs before they were followed by an equal amount of bodies hitting the floor. She couldn’t contain the giggle that escaped her. If there was one benefit to being the Fifth Spirit, it was her newfound confidence, and being comfortable in her own skin for once. This must be what it felt like to be Anna.</p><p>Which is why she now turned to the woman. “Should we—”</p><p>“They’ll be fine.”</p><p>“Agreed.” Anna sighed, then smiled.</p><p>“I love you, Elsa.” Her heart leapt at that statement, she’d heard it a million times before, and would a million times more. Something in her thoughts told her she’d never get tired of hearing it.</p><p>“And I love your amazing powers.” She could express similar sentiments regarding this. After all, it was the very reason she came to not only embrace what she was capable of, but herself as a person. Anna was the person she had to thank for everything.</p><p>“But can’t your painting hanging skills be as perfect as you are?” Wait, what? Elsa took a second look at the painting she hung up. It was upside down, what was meant to be grass on the painting instead looking like some form of innovative ceiling. Elsa grunted, followed by a pout.</p><p>“Oh don’t be like that you stinker, it’s an easy fix.” Anna walked over to one of the ladders, placed her foot on the first step, and smirked.</p><p>“Let the pro show you how it’s done.”Anna climbed up the ladder, reaching its top with ease. She stretched her body out as fast as she could and took good hold of the painting. “And just like that.” She turned it once.</p><p>“We, are—”</p><p>Twice.</p><p>“—done!” The ginger announced, the ladder having shaken a little from her actions, eliciting a slightly worried ‘oof’ out of her before it stood back in its place.</p><p>“See? That wasn’t so har—”</p><p>“Anna you really need to set a better example for the kingdom.” Wait what? Was that…</p><p>It was Olaf, leaning on the bottom of the ladder with one hand, as he held a plain black book in the other, when did he get here?</p><p>“Olaf what are you talking abo—”</p><p>Olaf interrupts Anna with a click of his tongue.</p><p>“Such poor procedures” He dropped the book with a thud. “I don’t even know what to do with you sometimes.” He pointed to Elsa. “Your sister is right there Anna!” The remark dug a smile out of the blonde.</p><p>“Olaf this is hardly the time-”</p><p>The snowman grabbed the ladder with both hands. “If the ladder starts shaking like this.” He shook it for emphasis.</p><p>“Or this!”</p><p>Anna yelped, this action drove a little worry out of Elsa.</p><p>“You will fall!” Olaf drew out each and every single following word, “Do. You. Understand. Me?”</p><p>Olaf pulled the ladder back and forth. She yelped again.</p><p>Elsa was now exceptionally worried, emotions that were well placed, considering Anna looked like she was just told to jump off a cliff.</p><p>“Olaf please-</p><p>“If someone isn’t holding the ladder than you are liable for-”</p><p>Olaf stepped back just an inch, but it was enough, just enough for him to have slipped over one of the many sheets on the floor. The various components of his head and body separated into various pieces. All of the bits that comprised Olaf: hands, stones, feet, head, torso, everything merged into one as the gravity took the ladder on a trip to the floor, taking a nervous Anna with it.</p><p>As Elsa watched the chaos unfold in front of her she was pretty sure she heard the snowman utter one last final grievance just before the wooden creation fell like timber.</p><p>“Oh dear...” Olaf pulled the ladder with him, causing the object to fall with a vigour and intensity that Elsa would never expect from such a small and soft snowman. Elsa would probably question it further if she didn’t bear more pressing matters to concern herself with. Namely the fact that the shaken ladder harbored her sister.</p><p>It was fast, too fast for her to register what she was doing, so her response to Anna falling was merely instinctual. She could’ve done a variety of other things, make an ice slide, perhaps a second pile of snow for the day. But instead, she ran without a thought, and caught the woman in her arms, holding her like a groom would a bride. Anna laid there in Elsa’s arms, they looked at each other. Eye contact was made at many other points of the day. Never was there a day they didn’t. But this position, this method of holding… It felt right, somehow. They didn't look at each other this time, no, into each other. There was a massive difference, and it was clearly felt. Anna gave her sister a smile.</p><p>“My hero.” She gave Elsa’s cheek the lightest of pecks. It was ever so subtle, so quick that if she was that little bit more immersed in teal eyes she wouldn’t have even noticed.</p><p>That was… different...</p><p>Elsa thought, it was a first, that much is for sure. Neither her nor Anna ever really kissed each other before. So to have Anna initiate such an act gave Elsa this strange feeling in her chest. But she couldn’t quite describe it. She felt light, yet heavy, constricted, yet free. This strange mixture of positive and negative— mostly positive— was something Elsa had not felt in a long, long time. Not since Anna thawed three years ago and said—</p><p>“Someone? Help?!”</p><p>Lurched out of her thoughts once more, Elsa noticed Olaf was stuck in the ladder, his parts everywhere. How Olaf could be stuck, considering Olaf could separate with ease, Elsa could not fathom. Anna seemed to be on some other planet herself, judging by her reaction to the snowman's plight.</p><p>“Oh! Olaf!” Almost as if she’d forgotten he was in the room at all.</p><p>She leapt out of Elsa’s arms, running over to help Olaf get out of the ladder with his head and body still attached.</p><p>“I think I see a light!”</p><p>“Those are the stars, Olaf.”</p><p>Meanwhile, Elsa stood motionless, her face blank, oblivious to the chaos and ruckus opposite her. Although she didn’t quite yet understand why exactly a simple gesture made her feel this way, there was one thing that she knew and one thing she understood. It was not just different, there was more to it than that…</p><p>It was a good different.</p>
<hr/><p>Differing setbacks aside, they got Olaf out of the ladder, giving Elsa the time to admire the paintings in their entirety. They were rather beautiful, simply called ‘The Voyage of Life’. According to Anna, the paintings worked together as a metaphor for life, illustrated via an ever aging man on a canoe, drifting on the river of time. The paintings all varied widely in colour scheme, but what they all shared in common was the canoe, the man and the angel guiding him to his eventual end. To some, these paintings may appear rather morbid, but for Elsa, they only sparked a deep dread. This non—existent, painted man, it reminded her of everyone else. Every person that was all too capable of experiencing the joy called life in its entirety. Childhood, Youth, Adulthood, Old Age, all of it. Why couldn’t Elsa just live?</p><p>“I bet Kristoff would like these,” she remembered Anna saying with fondness, “He has a knack for paintings too.”</p><p>Kristoff… In all honesty, as much as she hated to admit it to herself, she often forgot about the man's existence entirely. She loved him like any close friend would, but sometimes, he felt like a pebble in her shoe, something between her and Anna. She couldn’t figure out why. She just felt the man's presence almost held her back during her interaction with Anna, keeping something locked inside her that was released when she was alone with Anna. But what she was being held back from, she did not know… But enough of that, now was not the time to dwell, now was the time to move on. Less head—focus, more Anna—focus.</p><p>They spent the rest of the day doing their favourite pastime: nothing. But this wasn’t a regular, average, bland everyday nothing. This was nothing…</p><p>Together.</p><p>They needn’t talk, lest ruin the moment. All they needed was a book, some tea and the warmth (or cool, as Anna tended to tell her) of each other's bodies. Their breathing effortlessly synchronized as a fire slowly sizzled away in a distant somewhere. Once it got to the point that Anna’s yawns began to consistently draw Elsa out of a mere one of the library's many books, Elsa decided that it was finally time to treat the two of them to a good night's rest.</p><p>And now here they stood in one of the now many dim candle—lit hallways of their home, the various flickering shimmers of light only giving the two the briefest outlines of each other's faces. Their eyes were barely visible, shining in the candlelight. But they’re sisters, family. They could spot each other from miles away, always being able to find each other, no matter the circumstances, nor the amount of light blocking their vision.</p><p>They’d known each other since they were children, it was to be expected. What wasn’t expected was how they’d further always recognize the only other ‘friend’ they shared during their time apart. Hans was undeniably a person of pure deceit and evil, but nothing could compare to the blank, cold stare of the imposing slab of white that was Elsa’s bedroom door; the very thing that tore the two apart for so many years. Its consistent coating of blue snowflake shapes a constant reminder of Elsa’s childhood. Of how she tore them apart, divided them for what felt like forever, brought Anna and her to the very brink of—</p><p>“I really enjoyed today.” Oh, right. She wasn’t alone, the shape of her sister was standing right in front of her, faintly visible blobs of tan by her waist indicating the folding of her hands, the darkness in her eyes she presumed to be pupils gazing downward, and what Elsa thought was an affirmative to be a smile gracing her face. Seeing such a cute expression did nothing but force Elsa to return it.</p><p>“As did I, young queen.” Anna raised her head up at the reference, her smile widened.</p><p>“It’s a shame we couldn’t do everything I planned for us today, but it was magical nonetheless.”</p><p>“Magical?”</p><p>“I couldn’t think of a better word...” Anna trailed off. A silence fell upon them, but this wasn’t the silence of the library, this was different. Whether it was a good different or not, Elsa could not decipher. Anna put her hands behind her back, her foot kicking nothing on the ground. “I hope I did ok as queen today.” Anna managed to squeak, the queen’s eyes refusing to make contact with those of the spirit.</p><p>Elsa was absolutely gobsmacked. Throughout today alone, Anna learned the know—hows of document reading much faster than Elsa ever hoped she could, negotiated and mended ties with a nation that Elsa thought impossible to do so before today, and even helped sailors deliver her own paintings into the art gallery when they were the ones getting paid to commit such a task. Anna was absolutely everything this kingdom needed and more, one that would be remembered by the nation for the rest of its days…</p><p>And Elsa’s…</p><p>But that need not concern her at this moment, what she really needed to do was return the favour and allow Anna to see herself the way Elsa always saw her. A woman worth so much more than she could ever put into words. But as she took Anna’s hands into hers, and looked at what she could barely identify in the candlelight as her pupils…</p><p>“You were incredible.”</p><p>She tried anyway, pouring as much love, affection and devotion that she could into her mere voice. A short silence followed, allowing time for what Elsa said to truly sink into her sister’s mind, to etch it into the core of her memory. To try and show her that no matter how many times she pushed her away, showed negligence at obvious affection, or even when she ate the last chocolate in the box as kids, that despite everything, Elsa cared, more than anyone.</p><p>“Oh no,” Anna laughed, Elsa raised a brow. “That’s not a real thing you just said.”</p><p>Elsa just needed to smile— she had to— and they said Elsa was the one with a low self image.</p><p>“I mean it, Anna,” Elsa stated, “You may very well be the best this kingdom will ever have.” Anna let go of her hands at this point, creating a slight hint of distance as she doubled over in laughter.</p><p>“We both know that ain’t true since you exist.”</p><p>“I was never as good as you were, Anna. Not now,” Anna snorted, “Not ever.”</p><p>The laughter that Anna was now trying to contain had resulted in snot coming out of her nose. She wiped it off. Mildly revolting, but at least she didn’t eat it this time, Elsa thought with optimism.</p><p>“Okay, now you’re just being ridiculous.” Anna said through fits of giggles.</p><p>“I’m the fifth spirit, it’s impossible for me to be ridiculous.” By now, Anna’s laughs had completely died down.</p><p>“Really?” Anna smirked, starting to list with her fingers, “Water, Earth, Fire, Air, and you’re meant to be...?”</p><p>“I am meant to be many things, Anna.” Elsa smirked as she crossed her arms, “It just so happens that one of those things is being unique,” she teased with a dramatic flick of her hair.</p><p>“Is that one of your many things?”</p><p>“Say what?”</p><p>“Back on the roof? Those things I don’t know?” Elsa was instantly reminded of the near confession that took place a mere couple of hours ago. It all came back, the very reason for her being here in the first place, the guilt creeping back into her conscience. Anna’s further speech temporarily kept Elsa from focusing on those strands of guilt. “That’s not to say that you’re not cool enough already, like, look at you, you know? But you get what I mean right?”</p><p>This was it, now or never. Anna was standing here, expectant of a response, some form of method to keep the conversation ever going, trying to extend their day together, their time together. Elsa had to tell Anna of her secret; she couldn’t keep doing this. First the powers, then the pushing away, then the suffering. Elsa had to break the cycle, or else continue this pointless string of repetitive suffering that helped no one. Not the bearer of the secret, nor the person that tried to reach out.</p><p>“That’s…” Elsa began, Anna watched her, intent, “Not exactly what I wanted to say…” Elsa raised her head and prayed to god that she was looking at Anna’s eyes, “Not at all.”</p><p>Elsa was ready now. She was going to correct her, tell her that her assumption was incorrect, but not entirely untrue, that Elsa did have traits Anna wasn’t aware of, but none of the pleasant, lovely variety. No, Elsa bore the most selfish of traits, she now had the true ‘Gift’ of a spirit. A ‘Gift’ that allowed her to live for not just the rest of Anna’s days, but for all the days of every living and yet to be living individual. To watch the citizens of the entire world come and go, live to die, die to live, everything. To live the rest of her days in this repetitive, boring, pathetic—.</p><p>Large, log—like arms erupted from the darkness and found comfort around Anna’s waist, wrapping around it like two large snakes. Elsa felt her heart lurch at the sight.</p><p>“The play was great.” A relaxed voice kindly mumbled to Anna, a familiar voice. Oh thank the lord, it was only Kristoff, just an incredibly good friend, a brother to her, one of the family.</p><p>So why did the feeling she now have make her crave her lurched heart? Anna smiled, happy to see him. Elsa felt like her heart was a millstone that had just been dropped into the ocean, its weight dragging her further and further down into the deep, dark depths of her thoughts. So strongly was she enraptured in them that she could only faintly hear the laughter of her dear Anna through its void. Kristoff must've told her some kind of funny joke. She watched them, sharing a quick peck on the lips.</p><p>Elsa felt like her heart had just fallen into the darkest pit she could possibly imagine. But there was something else, something different. Whether it was a good different or bad different she still couldn’t quite decipher.</p><p>
  <em>Mine.</em>
</p><p>Elsa had to quite literally shake herself out of the shock of the intrusive thought. Where did that even come from? Why did she think such a thing? What made her—</p><p>“You ok?” A sweet voice asked. She was right in front of her, of course she could see the look of thinking on her face. Elsa looked at Anna again, still being cuddled by Kristoff. Her heart having landed at the sandy bottom of her inner maelstrom. She looked at the two of them, so happy together, so content. The joys of not having a cursed life. Elsa had to answer Anna’s question with honesty. She may not be able to tell her now, not with Kristoff here, but she couldn’t lie to her, not anymore.</p><p>“I’ve had better days”</p><p>“Anything to do with what you wanted to say?” Elsa saw Anna’s eyes, they conveyed a sense of understanding, recognition, trust. Elsa wanted to give in, but then she saw Kristoff. He almost appeared nonchalant, casual, near oblivious to what was occurring between the two women.</p><p>“Want to talk?” She couldn’t tell her, not with him here. Elsa told herself that she was never going to lie, but dodging the question didn’t fall under such rules.</p><p>“We’ll talk… Some other time.”</p><p>Right?</p><p>Anna’s eyes narrowed, her gaze hard. They've known each other since they were children, of course Anna would know that something was wrong; Anna knew more than anyone else whenever Elsa had something she wasn’t telling her. Dodging the question did nothing for Elsa, the guilt was still there, only this time it was directly out in the open for Anna to see as opposed to being decorated with a fancy lie.</p><p>“Okay then! Night Elsa!”</p><p>“Ditto,” Kristoff spoke, a warm smile gracing his features.</p><p>Elsa merely returned a meek wave and a slight smile as they walked off to Anna’s— no, their bedroom. Elsa was more than aware that Kristoff used to sleep in the stables, but with him now being king, that couldn’t have been the case anymore, could it? Elsa was still debating, still wondering why the idea of them sharing a room made her feel so…</p><p>She really couldn’t place it, she may have spent more time trying to deduce the nature of such emotions if sleep wasn’t already on the cusp of taking her. Today was exhausting, especially the mental end of it. Overthinking and assisting in queen work would do that to anyone, even if spirits were not dependent on the energy provided by food, they still very much needed sleep like any other living being. Elsa questioned why Spirits would even require such a detriment, but she could ponder another time. Her bed was calling.</p><p>She slunk into her room, the tendrils of sleep further coaxing her into a temporary slumber, the moonlight from her window almost acting as a spotlight for her bed. Her cozy, warm, safe bed. The bed she layed in during many frightful nightmares, but so many more comforting sleeps with her sister. As Elsa’s mind continued to fight against the need for rest, she lightly wondered if such nights would ever come in her future, Anna was the only thing that could put her to rest anymore; partially the reason she’d grown to love these weekends.</p><p>Too exhausted to even remember when or how she got to the bed, only recalling her legs bumping into the frame, her white dress dissipated into nothing as she fell face first into the warmth of enveloping cotton quilt. Her consciousness deepened into the world of rest. As the tendrils of sleep further stripped it away, Elsa made one last, final affirmation.</p><p>She’d tell her tomorrow, by any and all accounts. She’d rather die than be the harbourer of her sister's ignorance.</p><p>But just like death, just like the thoughts that slowly left to prime her for slumber, they would be impossible to grasp.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>One big massive thank you to my incredible Editor Peridot_8J4I_2RX and my absolutely amazing Beta Reader Reminaissance. You two were (and hopefully will continue to be) core reasons as to why this fic is the best it can be. I honestly can't express my sentiments enough, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.</p><p>If you haven't already, please do read their own stories on AO3, I would say they're very much worth your time.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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